Destined to Dream
by Hufflepuffnstuff
Summary: Delilah is an ordinary girl. Well, for the most part. Every once and a while extraordinary things happen to her. A secret from her family's past reveals a whole new world to her that she never dreamed could be possible. Is Delilah really just an ordinary girl or is she destined for much more? And what do the Scamander twins have to do with fulfilling her destiny?
1. The Not So Ordinary Girl

The rustle of leaves dragged Delilah from her peaceful nap out at her sanctuary. As she struggled to get out of her hammock she tried to recall any of the details of the dream she was having. She remembered it to be a pleasant one but could only recall an owl in a scarf and mailman hat, carrying a cross body bag full of envelopes.

"Strange," she thought.

Shaking the fog of her nap away, she looked around the Grove in which her sanctuary resided. The leaves on the trees danced in the soft breeze and the colorful wildflowers seemed to glow in the early summer sun. She strained to listen for any other disturbance in the trees but could only hear the soft bubbling of the creek and the croak of the frogs that called the creek home. She rubbed the last of the sleepiness from her eyes and reached down to gather her stuff. Just then, a twig snapped in the forest. Her head snapped up and she searched the area around her but saw no intruder, be it man or animal.

Starting to get nervous, so she quickly gathered her books and shoved them in her bag as she slipped on her sandals. She double checked to make sure she didn't forget anything and wearily started her journey back home through the forest. As she stumbled over a log she heard another disturbance. She spun around to see if there was someone following her, but saw no one. As she turned back towards the house, Ophilia jumped out from behind a tree and roared like a lion causing Delilah to jump out of her skin.

"Lia! You snot! You scared me half to death!" she scolded as she punched her best friend in the arm. "I can't believe you would do that to me! I thought you were wolf or something!"

"Really?" Lia asked in disbelief. "Like this is the first time. You know I find it hilarious when you jump like a little chicken."

"Well it's not nice!" she retorted trying to act annoyed.

She could never stay mad at Lia for long. She was like a sister to her. They were next door neighbors who had lived beside each other all of their life, and had bedrooms whose windows faced each other. They pretty much grew up together. Lia was the exact opposite of Delilah. Delilah was a meek girl with mousy brown hair and Lia was a fiery redhead who was quite a wild child. Had it not been for Lia, Delilah would have probably never done anything fun or ever even gotten in trouble. She was the exciting one with the great, and sometimes not so great, ideas. She could never imagine what her life would be like if it had not been for her. It would have most likely been boring, that's for sure. They were inseparable and did everything together. That is, when Lia wasn't grounded. Lia had always been quite the troublemaker who was constantly getting grounded. She always liked to toe the line, or occasionally hop, skip, and jump way past it.

On days like these, they would sit in their windows and talk to each other through the walkie talkies that they kept hidden. They had both saved up all the money they could from birthdays and allowances for two years to buy them. These weren't some Mickey Mouse ones for little children, these were the real deal and could even reach Delilah when she was out in the woods reading. Before they got them, they used to just talk as quietly as they could between the windows (which really wasn't that quiet at all), but they kept getting caught, which would only get Lia into even more trouble. This way, they could still talk and not make things worse. Today was one of those days that Lia had been grounded. This time, she had gotten in trouble at school for getting in a fight, though sadly she had only done so in defense of Delilah. This time not only had she been under house arrest, her mother had also taken away Lia's walkie talkie.

Since they had not been able to talk or hang out, Delilah had been going out to read in her sanctuary. She did this often, but usually Lia went with and splashed around the creek searching for frogs or something just as noisey. It was nice for a change to be able to read without all the extra distraction, but she didn't mention that to Lia. She was having a bad enough summer as it was.

"What are you doing out here anyways? Aren't you supposed to be grounded?" Delilah inquired.

"Yeah but my mom took pity on me since I've been locked up during the first week of summer vacay. She is allowing me yard time for being a good inmate. Honestly I think she was getting annoyed of me constantly moping around the house. Had I knew it was that easy I would have tried that days ago!" she chuckled. "Well my time is up, time to head back to my cell. She gave me back my walkie though, so at least I don't have to talk to myself anymore."

"Awesome! Be on the walkie in 5?" Delilah asked as she gave her a hug. Lia just saluted in agreement as she marched back to her house, imitating a soldier. Delilah just shook her head and laughed as she walked up to her house.

Although her house was ordinary, Delilah loved it. She had lived there all her life and it truly was her home. It was a beautiful craftsman style house with a wrap around porch and a white picket fence. Her back yard wasn't fenced and was backed up to the beautiful forested area where she spent most of her free time exploring.

She climbed the stairs to her room and dropped her bag on the bed before she started her search for the walkie talkie she hadn't seen in a week. Her bedroom was simple as well. She had a four poster bed with fluffy feather pillows and a down feather blanket that seemed to be just right no matter the weather. She had her dresser, a desk to do her homework at, her own bathroom, and the perfect window seat to read at. She looked all around her room and finally found the walkie deep under her bed, surrounded by all the dust bunnies and missing socks. She fished it out and sat down in her window seat just as Lia came into view in hers.

"So are we going to finally discuss what happened?" Lia asked with an expectant look on her face. Delilah knew that look and tone. She wasn't going to get out of this one easily. 

The popular girls, Shelby and Christina, had made a habit of picking on Delilah, and today Shelby decided to "accidentally" dump a whole carton of milk into Delilahs backpack at lunch. Delilah could tell Lia was getting really mad so she pleaded with her to just let it go, but Lia just couldn't stop herself. It was the last straw, they had to pay.

She grabbed her milk and dumped it all over Shelby, which of course escalated into an all out cat fight. Delilah was struggling to try and separate them, but nothing was working. Lia couldn't get in trouble for defending her, not again. She had gotten into enough sticky situations on behalf of Delilah and she couldn't let her best friend take the fall again. This was the last offence before Lia was going to get seriously grounded. Delilah was panicking. She had to do something to stop them but she didn't know what else to do. She freaked out and screamed for them to stop. At the same time, out of nowhere, a garbage can just exploded and there was garbage everywhere! It was just the distraction needed to break up the fight.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Principal Johnson was on his way and he caught Lia red handed with a fist full of Shelby's hair. Boy did he look mad, she was definitely in trouble this time.

This hadn't been the first time something crazy like this had happened. Lia was the only other person who knew about the occurrences. She didn't even know about them all, it had happened too many times to count. Delilah was afraid to admit what had happened when she wasn't there. She didn't want to believe it was true. Most of the time it was no big deal. Just a small thing here or there, like making things move, lost things just randomly appearing where she knew she had already looked, or a light bulb (or a few) exploding. One night she swore she created a thunderstorm when she was really upset. She had learned that she could prevent them from happening if she kept control of her emotions. The bigger the emotion, the bigger the event.

How could she tell her parents that weird things happened to her? They would think she was crazy and lock her up in the soft padded room with the cozy straight jacket. No one would believe her, aside from Lia of course, and she had only believed it because she had seen it first hand.

The first time something extraordinary had happened was when she had just turned 8. Lia had stayed over for a sleepover for Delilahs birthday. It was late at night and they were having a blast pillow fighting. It was the happiest Delilah had been in a long time. As does usually happen when fighting with feather pillows, feathers started flying. But that wasn't all. The feathers had started floating in large circles around the room like they were caught in a breeze. It took a few moments for either of them to realize what was going on since they were still in the middle of their pillow fight, but Lia was the first to take notice. She just froze in awe, and because she let her guard down, she took a pillow straight to the face, knocking her backwards. Delilah was laughing so hard she was crying. She didn't see any of it at first but Lia made her stop and see. Delilah was so shocked by what she was seeing, and the moment she grasped what was happening, the feathers just dropped. Neither could explain what had happened or why.

"Hello, Earth to space case, can anybody hear me?" Shaken out her memory by the annoyed tone of Lia's voice, she looked to her best friend. "Was that you who blew up the trash can?"

"I dunno, how could it have been? I was nowhere near it?" This was true since the garbage can had been a few yards away.

"Well it's not like it's the first time you made crazy things happen." Lia responded. "Remember that time you saw your cat Jinxy get hit by the car? The power went out on the whole street at the same exact moment you saw it happen."

"How could that have possibly been me? That had to have just been some strange coincidence..."

"OK, well then explain that one time the toilets exploded when Christina was tormenting you in the bathroom at school." She did not want to be reminded of that one. Talk about gross!

"Come on, it's not the first time someone had dropped a firecracker in the toilets. Stupid boys think it's so funny."

"Fine then! Explain the feathers."

She had no explaination for that. Even to this day both of them could not explain that one. They were in Delilah's basement when it had happened (which doubled as their hangout space) and there was no source of wind. There wasn't even windows down there. "OK. Maybe you're right. But how could that be possible? It would have had to have been magic and we both know there's no such thing as magic," Delilah said, shaking her head.

"But what if there is?"

"I can't believe in something that is not real. Let me guess, you want me to start believing in elves, werewolves, dragons, and unicorns now too?" she said incredulously.

"Well then what is your explanation then?" a bit of attitude flaring up.

Delilah didn't have an answer to that one either, so instead of answering, she just changed the subject. "Are they at least going to let you come over for my birthday next week?"

"'Pending good behavior they may let me reduce my sentence,'" Lia said with air quotations and an exasperated look on her face. "You'd think I robbed a bank or something. I'm currently grounded for 2 weeks. Just a couple of days shy of being able to make it to your birthday."

"Well then, let's not give them any more reason to be mad. It wouldn't be the same if you weren't there. I'd be stuck having to actually spend time with The Shining twins and the Mean Teen gang. Plus, I'm tired anyways so I'm gonna go to bed. You should do the same. I'll see you in the morning," she told her as she was walking away from the window to crawl into bed.

Little did she know, on her birthday, she would have her answer.

~ ~ ~

The morning of Delilahs 11th birthday started as it did every year. Her parents had started a tradition of waking her up with breakfast in bed when she was really little. It was the same thing every year, a big stack of sprinkle pancakes, covered in icing and whipped cream, and topped with a candle, just like a cake. They had done this for as long as she could remember and she would never admit it, but it was her favorite part of her birthday. She wasn't like most kids when it came to her birthday. She didn't like all of the forced conversation and having to be the center of attention. If she could have it her way, she would just have a nice dinner at home with her parents and Lia.

She never told her parents this though. Since she was an only child, they always made a big deal about her birthday and threw her a big party. Her parents always invited all of her family. They were all from her mom's side of the family though, seeing as how dad was an only child and his parents had passed away long before Delilah was ever born. Since her cousins were invited though, Delilah was required to have to pretend to enjoy their company. She didn't even like her cousins.

Oldest and nerdiest was Geoffrey. He was eighteen and was a computer nerd. He fit the cliche to a tee with his nerdy glasses, braces on his buck teeth, worn out gamer tee, and pimple ridden face. He was so awkward to talk to because all he spoke was gamer talk and Delilah never really understood what he was talking about or what he was even saying. What was a noob anyways?

Then there was Stacy. She was the not so sweet sixteen beauty queen. And a queen she was. She was a stuck up, snobby, spoiled rotten princess who only cared about makeup, clothes, boys, and whatever the latest celebrity gossip was. Delilah never really tried talking to Stacy anymore because Stacy wouldn't want to talk to her anyways. She used to be nice, but then she went to high school and was never the same again.

Thirteen year old Tyler (he goes by Ty now supposedly) was a typical teen boy. He skateboarded everywhere, loved playing video games, and was even learning how to play guitar. He wasn't too bad to talk to, if you could get him to talk that is. Recently his vocabulary has been reduced to various grunts and one word answers. He was starting to get quite the 'tude as well.

The scariest and youngest of the cousins were The Shining twins, Candy and Mandy. They were seven. Just like in the movies, they were two identical twin girls with pale skin and brown hair. They dressed alike and even seemed to have a demon like personality. They had a joy for misbehaving and blaming it on others, while maintaining an angelic like persona for the adults. It was creepy to talk to them too. It was like talking to one person, as they would switch between each other while in the middle of a sentence.

Delilah: "Hey girls, thanks for coming. How's it going?"

Together: "Hello"

Candy: "Our parents made"

Mandy: "Us come. We wanted"

Candy: "To stay home. They"

Mandy: "Said no."

Together with a fake smile: "But we hope you are enjoying your birthday so far." She had noticed at that point some of the adults had walked back in the room.

She had come to the conclusion that her parents only invited her family so she wouldn't feel lonely. Since she really didn't have any friends other than Lia, they must have assumed she would be sad if no one else came, so they always invited the whole family. She tried to tell them that they didn't have to throw such a big party for her one year, but they must of thought she was just trying to be modest. That or maybe they thought she was being all bah humbug about her birthday. Either way, it just confirmed her suspicions that her parents really didn't understand her.

Delilah was saved from having to continue the awkward conversation with The Shining Twins when Lia stumbled in the door carrying a huge present. Lia must have wrapped it herself seeing as how the twins could have wrapped it better blindfolded. The size of the box didn't help, and Lia was never really much of a gift wrapper anyways, but this year her wrapping really was quite bad.

"HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAAY DELILAAAH!" Lia shouted from the front door.

"I think even the martians in another galaxy could hear you" Delilah said with a chuckle.

"Where should I put this? And answer quick because I can't carry this much longer"

Delilah managed to open up enough space where the other presents were just in time before Lia dropped it. What gift could possibly be so huge anyways? The box had to have been big enough for her to hide inside of it.

The party continued as can be imagined. The parents were mainly hanging out in the kitchen chatting amongst themselves. They were obviously trying to ignore the chaos going on in the livingroom. It was rather loud in there and the girls couldn't blame the parents for trying to avoid it. The twins kept being obnoxious by hiding things like remotes, car keys, Geoffreys glasses, and drinks. They somehow managed to even make Shelby's phone disappear. All the while somehow avoiding being caught by anyone other than Delilah. That's only because she was keeping a watchful eye on them since she was used to their ways.

Geoffrey was screaming at some video game both him and Ty were playing called Duty Calls or something like that while Ty was just laughing at him (there's that noob word again). They were both sitting about two inches from the screen and had been playing since they walked in the door. They atleast had uttered some sort of greeting when they got there.

Shelby, on the other hand, hadn't put down her phone once, not even to say hi when she got here. You would think that it had become one with her hand seeing as how you never really saw her without it lately. She was engulfed in her own little world, talking to some guy and scrolling through social media.

Delilah and Lia were sitting in the corner of the room making fun of the faces Shelby was making while taking pictures of herself. How many selfies does one girl need before she finally has one she likes? They were also laughing about how mad Geoffrey was getting at the game. He must have been losing. All the while they were trying to keep an eye on the twins. They did NOT want to be messed with.

It was a huge relief when the pizza showed up for lunch. It was what Delilah always chose for her birthday. If she could eat only one thing for the rest of her life, it would definitely be pizza. The only people who complained were the twins ("We don't like mushrooms on our pizza!"), and Shelby, who barely touched hers ("Grease is so gross."). Jeffery and Ty, on the other hand, had of course each hoovered down half a pizza. They both had to have been hollow on the inside, where else could one store so many slices of pizza?

Once everyone had their fill, Delilah's mother brought out her cake. She had spent the whole day prior making it by hand just for her, just like she did ever since Delilah's first birthday. She really outdid herself this year with beautiful fondant flowers of all shapes and colors. She had lit only two candles on top, symbolizing her 11th birthday. That way she didn't have to worry about ruining the look of the cake with wax dripping everywhere. Delilah was in awe and was sad she was going to have to cut it. Before she blew out the candles (and after that annoying birthday song), she made a wish:

I wish for something extraordinary to happen.

Once the cake was divided and eaten, it was time for presents. Lia had announced that hers had to go last, so first she opened the gift from Aunt Mary, Uncle Joseph, and the twins. It was a pair of soft pink fuzzy bunny slippers with matching ears and a $10 gift card to Toys R Us. How old did they think she was turning, four?

Next was from Aunt Jen, Uncle Steve, Stacy and Ty. They got her gift certificates for two movie tickets, a bunch of candy, and $20. They always gave the best gifts.

After that she opened a board game that was from Aunt Nancy, Uncle Bob, and Geoffrey. At least it kind of looked cool.

Her parents got her a beautiful pair of earrings. They were simple, each with a bright teal jewel that dangled like water drops. They were her favorite color. She was so excited she put them on right away.

Lastly, Lia dragged over the huge box she had brought with a suspicious looking smile on her face. Delilah wasn't so sure about opening her gift anymore.

"Nothing's going to jump out and attack me is there?"

Lia just laughed and shook her head.

She got through the wrapping paper (which wasn't even really that hard to do since it was barely wrapped) and had to use a knife to open the box. There was enough tape on it to wrap 10 boxes the same size. That was the first hint that something was up with this gift. She got the box open to find a layer of packing peanuts. After digging a bit, she found another gift wrapped box a bit smaller than the outer box.

This one at least had been fully wrapped, though not very neatly. This was Lia's typical standard for wrapping gifts. Giving her friend a side eye and confused look, she unwrapped the 2nd box. Inside she found some bubble wrap and rolled her eyes. Once through that she found another gift wrapped box, this one was at least half the size of the previous box and was wrapped somewhat nicer.

She was starting to get frustrated, but continued to unwrap the 3rd box after a bit of encouragement from her increasingly annoying friend. Wrapped within tissue paper was yet another (albeit much smaller) box with a pretty bow and curled ribbon on top. She must have gotten help wrapping this one though, because it looked like a professional did it. It was small enough to hold something the size of a grapefruit.

"If I open this box and there is nothing inside or even worse, another box, I swear I will no longer be your best friend" Delilah said trying to sound as convincing as she could even though they both knew she would never follow through with that threat. "I mean it!"

"I promise! That's the last box! Now open it already!"

Once unwrapped, Delilah opened the "last box" to find a bunch of those tiny styrofoam balls. Giving Lia a grumpy look, but digging inside anyways, she uncovered a snow globe. There were two girls, one red headed and the other brunette, in the middle of a pillow fight. Instead of snow though, it was tiny feathers floating around. When she swirled it, the feathers swirled around, just like on her 8th birthday.

"I was surprised I found one with the right hair colors" Lia said sheepishly. "Not a lot of stuff have redheads. I hope it's not too cheesy!" She wasn't sure if Delilah would like it.

"Oh Ophelia! I love it!" Delilah squealed as she threw herself on her best friend to give her the biggest hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"OOMPH! My goodness. You're welcome! Ok, ok! You're going to break my ribs!" Lia said with a smile.


	2. The Night That Changed Everything

Not long afterwards, everyone started to go home. It's a good thing too because the twins were starting to get restless and there was no way the girls would survive the terrible twins once they put their grumpy pants on. Once everyone was thanked and ushered out the door, the girls gathered a bunch of junk food and went down to the basement to get started on their annual movie marathon sleepover. A few years back, her parents had upgraded the basement into a theater room and sprung for a projector and big projection screen. Between that and the comfy sectional and ottoman that formed a bed, it was the perfect place for the movie extravaganza. Delilah had already gathered the blankets and pillows for them in preparation for the evening filmfest but had waited for Lia to pick out the lineup for the night.

They were now standing in the living room looking at the bookshelf that housed all the movies her parents had collected. They had quite the collection, so it took a bit to look through them all. They had picked out a few already and were looking for a final one. Delilah had picked out a sci-fi movie and much to Lia's dismay, a chick flick. Lia had of course chosen an action movie and a gory scary one. They were now trying to decide on a comedy to scare off the heebies from the scary one.

"How about this one?" Lia said.

"Ugh, you made me watch that one more than enough when we were kids. If I have to watch Michael Jordan play basketball with cartoons again, I may go a little looney myself! We gotta watch this one! This was so hilarious!"

"Um, as if! That is like so totally yesterday! I'm like for reals going to have to like, totally double pass on the bay area drama" Lia said with her best valley girl impression she could muster. "How about this hilarious classic? You never expect the fluffy bunny to be a vicious carnivore. Perfect movie choice, am I right?"

"..."

"Hello….Space cadet….Are you going to answer me?" She asked after a few moments with no response. When Lia still didn't get a response she turned to get Delilah's attention, but realized she wasn't even looking at the movies anymore. She was staring out the window into the back yard. There was an owl there, just outside the window. It was perched on the window sill, staring back at Delilah.

"What in the…." Lia said in shock stopping mid sentence as it started tapping its beak on the window. "What do we do?"

"Its standing on something. It looks like a letter" Delilah said while pointing at the owl's feet. "It looks harmless, I'm gonna open the window."

"Are you nuts? That thing can peck your eyes out! Or at the very least claw them out! Either way, I like my eyes right where they are!" Lia screeched, sounding much like an owl herself.

Delilah didn't respond but slowly started moving closer to the window. Lia snatched a blanket from the end of the couch and was holding it up like a net, just in case she was going to need it. Just before Delilah reached the window, she lunged for a fire poker as well. Better safe than eyeless.

Delilah was surprised the owl had not flown away yet. It had only moved to the deck railing to get out of the way so she could open the window. She very slowly and carefully started opening it. The owl immediately flew into the room and landed on the couch, letter in beak. Lia had screamed like she was going to die when it was in flight, but calmed down quickly when she realized it was not coming for her eyes.

Her parents came rushing in right after, on high alert due to Lia's scream. Seeing that no one was hurt her mother said "What in the world were you screaming for? You nearly gave us a hear…" She froze mid sentence when she finally laid eyes upon the owl. "What is that owl do...uh...no way...it looks like the ones from….no…wait...it can't be...can it…..I would have noticed...Have you…." she mumbled as she turned to her daughter, unable to finish any of her sentences. Delilah's father was just standing there with his jaw hanging open, a look of disbelief on his face.

"Is that from where I think it is from?" Her father had finally regained his senses and had turned to her mother to ask this.

The owl had not stopped looking expectantly at Delilah and she was trying to keep an eye on both it and her parents while she was trying to figure out what they were talking about. She realized the owl was trying to hand her the letter so she cautiously took it from its beak as it rubbed its head on her hand. She swore she saw it nod and wink at her before it flew back out the window and disappeared beyond the trees. She looked at the letter that was now in her hands. It was the back side of the letter she was seeing and there was a wax seal on it with a weird imprint, shaped kind of like a heart. She flipped it over and saw that it was addressed to her specifically, address and all, but no return address. She went to flip it over again to take another look at the seal but her mother snatched it out of her hands before she could flip it back over.

"What the…? Give that back! It was addressed to me!" Delilah yelled at her mom and she tried to reach for it, but her mom would not give it back.

"I need to speak with your father real quick" Her mother said quickly while walking out of the room without waiting for a response or even checking to make sure he was following her. Her dad just turned tail and ran. He chased after her mother while asking questions Delilah couldn't quite hear since they were already upstairs and out of hearing range. The sound of their bedroom door shutting broke the shock the girls had been frozen in.

"What was that all about?" Lia asked confusedly, still staring at the empty staircase as if an alien had decided to pose for selfies there.

"I have no idea, I have never seen my parents act that way before. That was so strange."

After about 30 minutes, Delilah got tired of waiting. She went up to her parents door and knocked. "Are you going to tell me what that was all about or not?"

Her mother opened the door only to say, "We will, but not while Lia is here. You go back to enjoying your night and we will talk to you tomorrow" and proceeded to shut the door in her face.

"Can I atleast have my letter?" She asked with no response. She knew that there was no point in arguing. Since her mother had made up her mind, she knew it wasn't going to change. She was so confused but knew when the battle was lost, so she gave up.

She went downstairs to relay to Lia what her mother had said. She could tell Lia was going to try and demand for answers. She had to do a bit of convincing to get her to understand that bugging them would not get them answers, just make her parents mad. She finally convinced Lia to go and try to watch the movies they had picked out, though neither of them could really pay attention. They had too much on their minds.

The wonderful thing about being in the basement was that the sun could not shine in and there was no sound to wake them, allowing them to sleep in. This was the main reason they had always stayed down there when they had sleepovers. It was more of a benefit this morning, since neither had slept too well the night before. They had been kept up all night with all the unanswered questions bouncing around their heads. So aside from Lia's snores, the sounds of Delilah tossing in her sleep, it was dark and quiet in the basement. Most of the night, Delilah had been having nightmares, but she had been dreaming about swimming with mermaids when her mother came down to wake them.

Delilah's mother must have decided they had slept in long enough because she bounded down the stairs with pan of warm, freshly baked cinnamon rolls in hand. If the sound hadn't done the trick, the smell definitely did. What was heard next was a mixture of grumbles, from not only the girls, but their stomachs as well. It smelled so good they had almost forgot that this was no typical morning after breakfast they had grown accustomed to.

Once they were finally sitting up, hair sticking up in every direction and dark circles under their eyes, the questions of last night came flooding back and they both groaned again. Before either could start asking questions, Delilah's mother went back upstairs, with the cinnamon rolls in hand of course. _What time was it anyways?_

The girls had no choice but to follow the delicious scent trail up the steps and into the bright light that flooded the house. Covering their eyes like they were vampires and were practically hissing like them too as they stumbled through the living room tripping over furniture. They finally made it to the kitchen and plopped down on the bar stools at the island, both looking rather grumpy.

' _Food before questions'_ they both must have thought because they immediately began piling their plates full of food and shoveling it down like they hadn't eaten in weeks. Her mother had really outdone herself, there was quite the spread covering the entire island. Aside from the cinnamon rolls made from scratch, she had made muffins, eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, and had cut up a big bowl of fresh fruit. There was even a carafe for both orange juice and strawberry milk, both of the girls' favorites.

"You guys look like you partied hard. Are you sure you guys didn't do any drinking last night?" Delilah's mother asked with a chuckle, being the bright eyed, bushy tailed morning person that she was. She was obviously joking since what 11 year old would ever even drink alcohol?

"Hardy Har Har. Now are you going to tell me what last night was about? Or are we still going to pretend like nothing happened?" Delilah said with a very unlike her attitude.

"I already told you we could talk later" she responded pointedly so as not to say, ' _not in front of Lia_.'

Delilah sighed in frustration and continued to chow down on her breakfast. She then downed her OJ and then dragged Lia away from her breakfast to gather her things from downstairs. The basement was a disaster, there was food, blankets and pillows everywhere. Lia started cleaning up the mess but Delilah stopped her.

"The sooner you're outta here, the sooner I can get answers. You can come back tonight and help me clean up this mess. Hopefully by then I'll have something to tell you" she said while practically shoving Lia out the door.

It was time. The moment of truth. She plopped down on the armchair across from the couch where her parents were drinking coffee. She crossed her arms, frowning, and staring at each of them in turn, trying to figure out who would break the silence first. Both of them were seeming to talk to each other strictly through head nodding, eye movement, and facial expressions.

"Are either of you actually going to start this conversation or are you guys going to keep talking telepathically?" she asked frustratedly.

Finally and surprisingly, it was her father who spoke, "honey, have you ever noticed something strange happening that you had no explanation for?"

Delilah just stared at her parents with the look of utter confusion. "Huh?"

Her mother turned to her father and said, "Nolan, maybe we should just test her, it's possible it could be true. This would be better shown instead of explained. I don't think she would believe you anyways unless she saw it for herself. Why not just cut to the chase?"

Now Delilah was really confused. What were they talking about? At this point she noticed her letter was sitting on the table between them. It was still unopened. Next to it, there was a long and skinny box. It looked like one of those boxes expensive bracelets come in, except that it looked a bit beat up. Her father opened the box and pulled out a stick. He gave it a quick inspection, looking it over from all angles, swiping it through the air a few times, and giving it a slight bend. He then nodded giving it its approval.

Alright, she was completely lost now, "Can one of you please just explain what in the world is going on?"

"It's better if we just show you," her father responded quietly while walking out into the back yard. She looked to her mother expecting some sort of explanation but she only motioned for her to follow him. She had no choice but to get up and join her father out the back door.

It was cold outside since it was nearing the end of summer. The sun hadn't quite peeked out from behind the trees and clouds yet, a few birds were chirping in the distance. She really wished she had more on than just her pjs from last night, she didn't even have anything on her feet. The dew, still shining on the grass, wet her feet and the bottom of her pjs. She really regretted not putting on a sweater or at the very least some shoes and wished she could be curled up in her warm bed right about now. Her father was just standing in the yard, staring out into the forest. Once she was standing next to him, he handed her the stick. It was thin but sturdy, with a couple of bends in it, and the handle was intricately carved with vines that wrapped around it. It was about a foot long, and looked like it hadn't been handled much since the carvings still looked sharp.

"Well, what am I supposed to be doing with this thing?" she asked rudely looking at the stick like it was some alien foreign object. She turned around to see her mother was sort of hiding just inside the back door. She was peeking around the frame just enough to see what was happening. She could tell her mother was nervous and a bit scared but didn't understand why. What was she hiding in there for and why did she look so worried? It was only a stupid stick. What could be so scary about it?

"Give it a wave," her father instructed still looking beyond the trees with a look of concentration. He took a step back so he was just behind her on her left. _Why were they acting this way? Had her parents literally lost their marbles_? She looked at the stick, and thought, ' _well it's been a weird enough morning as it is, I might as well try.'_

She gave it a small wiggle and nothing happened.

"Come on, that's not going to do anything. Really give it a wave" her dad said still not looking in her direction. He now had a hint of a smile on his face, but his brows were still furrowed close together.

She sighed and did as he said, giving it a swipe using her whole arm, sweeping it left to right. The leaves all over her yard went flying into the forest, the branches on the trees bending back, a few cracks sounding from the branches, and all the birds took flight. After a quick moment, the branches snapped back into place. She could not believe what she had just seen. She immediately dropped the stick, turned to her parents, frozen in shock. Her mother gasped from the doorway and had a very uneasy look on her face.

Her father on the other hand, had the biggest smile she had ever seen. He swooped her up and spun her around. "I can't believe it! It's true!" her father exclaimed as he set her down. "Who would have thought?" She was so confused. Her father picked up the weird stick, turned to her mother, and said "Sarah, get the trunk, it's time."


	3. The Truth Unveiled

She stood out in the yard for a few moments, mouth open in shock, and just watched as her parents retreated into the house. ' _What in the world is going on here?'_ she thought.

When he realized she had not yet followed him in, he peeked outside and with a chuckle said, "Are you coming in or are you going to stand out there, freezing your butt off all day, with that silly look on your face?"

She shook her head to clear the fog and frowned at him as he disappeared back into the house. _How could he even be joking at a time like this? Why did he not think this was nuts? WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS GOING ON?!_

She slowly started making her way back inside. She was so distracted she didn't even feel cold anymore. She couldn't even feel the dew on the grass or hear the birds that had resumed chirping. All she could think about was the fact that she had to have been dreaming. There was no way this is real. She pinched herself to see if she was awake or sleeping. _Nope, not dreaming, just living in a bizzaro land with lunatic parents who have a crazy magic stick._

She stepped inside while her parents were coming down the steps from upstairs, dragging down the old trunk that had been tucked deep in the attic. She had seen it up there before, but had thought nothing of it. She had figured it was full of old moth ridden clothes from her great grandparents time and not worth the digging it would have taken to get to it. It was still in surprisingly great shape, though had obviously been used frequently in it's time. It was worn a bit around the edges, but still seemed quite sturdy.

They set it down in the living room on the coffee table and they both took a seat on the couch. This time though, they motioned for her to sit between them. She squeezed on in and looked back and forth between her parents.

"What does this old hunk of junk have to do with anything?" She asked with obvious frustration. She was tired of waiting for answers.

"Just a moment longer," he said as he picked up the stick and tapped the chest 3 times. The locks on it popped open and the lid cracked open. "Now before we continue, I'm going to need you to take a deep breath and let me finish talking before you start asking questions."

She turned to her mother who only nodded in agreement. Well this was going to be hard. She had nothing but questions to ask them, so she bit her lip to keep herself quiet, took a deep break and looked back at the chest nodding. "OK, I'm ready."

Her father slowly opened the chest to reveal clothing, books, old quill feather pens, ink bottles, and other odds and ends stuff. The large book right on top of it all was what caught her eye. It was a photo album with an old photo on the front. This was no ordinary photo though. The people in the picture were moving! It was like looking at a mini clip, but it was definitely just a picture.

"How is it…"she started to ask as she was turning to her father but he interrupted her.

"No questions till I'm done, remember?"

So she turned back to the photo album which her dad had started to pull out of the chest and he held it right between them, her mother peeking over her shoulder. She immediately recognized her father, at about her age, in the middle getting noogied by an older boy who looked quite similar to her father. On the other side of him was a young girl, seeming to be the youngest, shaking her head at the boys with a smile on her face. She looked so much like Delilah that it could have been her in the picture.

Just behind the three of them was an older couple, not much older than her parents were now. They all looked so happy. This must be her father's family. She had always wondered why she have never seen a picture of them before. Now she knew why. You couldn't very well have pictures like this throughout the house without raising some questions.

"That, in the middle, is obviously me. That charming guy giving me a noogie would be my older brother Lyle, and that is my little sister Dee-dee. You were named after her. Behind us are my parents. We lived in England and were all really close. Not long before you were born though, my family was murdered by an evil man.

"You see, magic runs in my family. They were all wizards and witches. I, unfortunately, did not inherit the magical capabilities the rest of my family shared. I'm what they call a squib, which is the wizarding term for a non-magical member of a wizard family. My whole family loved me just as much though, and never treated me any different

"The bad man who killed my family believed that the wizarding world should be restricted to pure blood wizards and witches only. He believed that marrying a muggle was a disgrace to wizards everywhere. Here in America, they call them no-maj, which means a person who does not have magic who is not from a wizard family. My father was a half blood, meaning one of his parents, my grandmother, was a no-maj. The evil man had made it his mission to purify the wizarding race. He eventually was defeated by Harry Potter, who was known as the chosen one. I can go over his tale with you some other time, but let's get back to our story.

"We had been on our honeymoon when my family had been murdered. It was then that we decided we were going to move far away to hide from this evil man, so we moved here to America. Since there were still some of his evil henchmen everywhere, even all the way out here, we decided to hide my magical heritage. Since I couldn't even perform magic we figured it would be the easiest choice. So we got rid of all the magical things I could bear to part with and locked up everything else in this chest."

While he had been telling his tale, he had been flipping through the pictures which portrayed his family, where he lived, and what must have been extended family and friends. She was in awe of all the moving pictures and that was probably the only reason she had kept so quiet up until the point. He had flipped to a picture of Dee-dee flying through the air on a broom. She came to a stop right before the camera with the biggest smile on her face, showing off this gold winged ball she had pinched between her fingers.

"What is Aunt Dee-dee doing in this one?" She asked.

"Well that there is a wizarding sport called Quidditch, which is kind of like soccer and basketball mixed together, but played on flying brooms. Right here, she had just won the game by catching that little ball, called a snitch, and had won the tournament for her team. She was the best seeker her house had ever seen."

"House?" She asked.

"When a wizard comes of age, they are given the option to attend a wizarding school. It is like boarding school, except instead of learning calculus and chemistry you would be learning spells and potions. Since we had grown up in England, we attended Hogwarts which was the wizarding school there. The children who attend are sorted into houses. Hogwarts has four houses. Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw.

"Lyle had been sorted into the Gryffindor house and Dee-dee Hufflepuff. They say the houses were decided based on each student's aspirations. This makes sense given that Gryffindors were the bravest and most loyal, Slytherin the most determined and ambitious, Hufflepuff the most trustworthy and kind, and Ravenclaw the smartest and creative. Lyle was most certainly brave and Dee-dee was definitely the nicest and caring."

"Is there a school here in America?" Delilah asked, eyes full of hope. She was beginning to understand. She had magic, she was a witch, there were others out there who were like her.

"Well that brings us back to this letter," her dad responded with a smile as her mother produced the letter. She handed it to Delilah.

She held it tenderly, nervous and excited to be able to open it. She stared at her name written on the front for a few moments before flipping it over to reveal the seal.

"That's the symbol for Ilvermorny" her father said.

Not knowing what an Ilvermorny was, she broke the seal and it magically opened. It folded in a way to mimic lips and started moving like a mouth as it said;

"Dear Delilah Steward,

It is with most pleasure that we welcome you to join us at Ilvermorny, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We congratulate you on becoming of age to attend our school, and humbly request that you join us for schooling at the beginning of the school year. Enclosed you will find your list of necessary supplies. We look forward to meeting you, and eagerly await your acceptance.

Happy Birthday,

Headmaster Agilbert Fontaine"

It then turned back into the normal letter. Delilah didn't know what to say. Both her mother and father enveloped her in a hug, her mother with tears in her eyes, and her father smiling as wide as he could. She would have the chance to go to wizarding school. _Who would have thought such an ordinary girl would get the chance to do something extraordinary? Wishes really must come true!_

As soon as the initial shock wore off, she turned to each of her parents. There were so many questions running through her head. She was already on to the next one before she could fully grasp the last one, so she started with the most obvious.

"So that means I am a witch?" she asked her father.

"It appears so," he responded with a smile. "How does that make you feel?"

"A bit nervous and excited, and of course curious" she said, a small smile spreading across her cheeks. "How come you never told me sooner? You said that the bad guy had been defeated, so why hide it anymore?" Her smile was gone, a look of confusion and frustration had replaced it.

"Although he is gone, his cronies are still out and about. A lot of them fled to America after the Great War. They haven't been able to catch them all yet and they are just as determined to complete what their leader had started. Given that your mother is a no-maj and I married her, we had to do our best to stay under their radar, that and most importantly, to make sure you would be always protected."

"If they are still out there, then would it even be safe for me to become a witch?" she asked, fear starting to creep into her voice.

"Ilvermorny, like Hogwarts, is the safest place for young wizards and witches to be while they are learning how to perform magic. Both schools are lead by the strongest and most loyal to the cause. Not to mention that all of the teachers are masters at dueling and there are all kinds of protection spells put in place all over the castle. They are more than capable of protecting all of you."

So then it really was possible. She could become a witch. She had never been so excited about anything in all of her life. She was so excited that the chest and all its belongings started to float in the air. They immediately crashed back down when she realized what she had been doing. Her parents looked at her with a mix of shock and awe.

"Oops, sorry. I'm usually much better at keeping that handled" she said with an embarrassed look on her face.

"How long has that been happening for?" her father asked, the shock still apparent in his voice and on his face.

"Um, well, the first time I really noticed was on my 8th birthday. Wait, hang on, I'll be right back" she said as she ran to her room. She picked up the gift Lia had just given her the night before. She ran back to the living room and gave it a swirl before handing it to her parents.

"Lia and I were having a pillow fight during our usual sleepover. Well out of nowhere the feathers started flying, circling around the room, just like they are in the snow globe" she said pointing to it, feeling a bit sheepish. "That's the real reason why there were feathers everywhere when you guys came in."

This time it was her mother who broke the silence, "Since you never showed any magical capabilities when you were young, we just assumed you would be a squib, just like your father, so we just let it go and never tested you again. You must have been a late bloomer."

"Is this the only time something like this has happened?" he father asked, setting the snow globe on the table.

"Well there was that one time when Jinxy got hit by that car and the power went out. I had thought it was just a strange coincidence. Oh, and that one time the toilets exploded at school, it think that may have been me too," she said. Now that she had started talking about it, she couldn't stop. She was talking fast now. "And I swear one time a thunderstorm had started one night when I was really upset because Lia and I were fighting. Other than that, it hasn't been anything too big, maybe a few shattered light bulbs."

Her parents looked to each other, with a look of dumbfoundedness on both of their faces. "How could we have not known?" her mother asked quietly.

"Well, I was always afraid to tell you guys," she said timidly a tear falling down her cheek, "I thought you would think I was crazy and have me put away. Even I didn't want to believe it and it was happening to me!"

"Oh honey, we would never believe you were crazy," her mother said as they both enveloped her in a hug. "I hope you now know that you can come to us with anything. We will always do our best to listen without judgement."

For the first time in a long time, Delilah finally felt like her parents actually understood her.

"Alright. Now where's that letter. There's a lot we have to do before school starts. First, we have to go shopping for the supplies," her father said pulling out a long list from the envelope.

"Can I see the list?" Delilah asked while trying to peek over the edge of the paper. Her father handed her the sheet and she quickly looked it over.

 **Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

 **School supply list**

First-year students will require:

Uniform:  
Three Sets of Plain Work Robes (Cranberry for girls, deep Blue for boys, fasteners to be provided by the school)

One Plain Pointed Hat (same color as robe) for day wear

One Pair of Protective Gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
One Winter Cloak (Black, gold fastenings)  
 **Please note that all student's clothes should carry name-tags at all times.**

Books:  
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk  
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot  
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling  
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch  
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore  
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger  
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander  
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

The Monster Book of Monsters By Edwardus Lima

Chadwick's Charms Vol I By Chadwick Boot

Other Equipment:  
1 Wand  
1 Cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set of glass or crystal vials  
1 telescope  
1 set of brass scales

Quills & ink

Parchment

Students may also bring an Owl, a Cat or a small animal.

 **PARENTS ARE ALSO REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BRING THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS TO SCHOOL.**

"Looks like we will have to make a trip to into the big apple to get the stuff on this list," her father said while reading it over her shoulder.

"New York?" she asked, "Why there?"

"Oh you'll see," he said with a smile.

Although she was over all the unanswered questions, she could never let this get in the way of all of the excitement she was currently feeling. It took everything in her to contain it. She couldn't wait to tell Lia. That thought made her freeze.

"Am I going to be able to tell Lia?" she asked, trepidation apparent in her voice and all over her face. She didn't want to have to hide this from her best friend.

Her parents looked at eachother and her father said, "Not now, there are some ground rules we would like to discuss with you, but we don't have time to do that now. If we want to be able to get all the stuff on this list, we need to get a move on. According to this letter, you start next week."

Just hearing those words melted away all of her fears. Now all she could think about is what it would be like there, at Ilvermorny, with all of the other witches and wizards like her.

"Alright sweetheart, you can't leave the house looking like that," her mother said with a smile. Delilah realized her hair was still standing on end and that she was still in her pjs. "You're sure to frighten everyone else. Why don't you go freshen up, get changed, and meet us back here."

She reluctantly turned, but hurried as she went upstairs to her room. She was afraid she was going to come back and they were going to laugh at her and hand her off to the guys in lab coats to take her to the looney bin. Looking in her vanity mirror she gasped in shock. She was definitely looking like she belonged there. She rushed around getting ready as fast as she could. After yanking her brush through her hair until it looked halfway back to normal, she put it up in a messy bun to conceal the rats nest that was her hair. She quickly changed into jeans and a t-shirt, shoved her feet into her bright teal Chucks, and snatched her sweater off her chair at her desk before running back downstairs.

When she made it downstairs, she realized she was worrying for no reason. Her parents were still waiting when she walked back into the room, not far from where they were when she left. They had started a fire though.

"I think that's the fastest I've ever seen you get ready," her mother chuckled.

Her father turned to the fireplace and picked up the Urn that had been sitting up there for years.

"What are you doing with Grandpa?" Delilah asked.

"Oh, haha, about that" her mother said with an awkward smile. "That's not really your Grandfather."

Again with all the confusion. Why couldn't they just be straight forward and to the point instead of just creating more and more questions with every answer they gave.

"This here is what we call Floo Powder," her father said grabbing and handful of the ashes inside. "Grab a handful of this here ash, throw it in the fire, say where you want to go, step in, and it will transport you there."

She did not want to reach into the urn to grab the ashes that she had not that long ago, believed was the remains of her late Grandfather. It just didn't feel right. Plus hadn't she been taught all her life to not touch fire? Now her parents wanted her to jump in the fireplace with the fire blazing.

"Here, I'll go first," her father said, noticing her reluctance. "And make sure that you speak clearly. Last thing we need is for you to get lost somewhere you're not supposed to be."

He grabbed a handful of ash, handed the urn to her mother, threw the ash into the fireplace, and shouted, "The Harvest Moon." The flames roared and changed to green. Her father stepped in and disappeared, the flames quickly returning back to normal. Delilah just stood there, mouth wide open, trying to digest what she had just seen. Her father was literally gone, and in the process, he had not burst into flames. This day just kept getting stranger and stranger.

"Alright sweetheart, your turn," her mother said. "I'll be coming right behind you, so make sure to step out of the way when you get there."

She turned to her mother and reluctantly reached her hand into the urn, it still felt so wrong. She took a deep breath, stepped as close to the fire as she could without burning herself, and threw the ashes into the flames, which turned green again. She said "The Harvest Moon" and because she was so close to the fire, it just pulled her into the flames. She was scared to open her eyes at first but upon realizing that she was not in fact burning to a crisp, she opened her eyes and watched as room after room whizzed by her. Most of the rooms had been living rooms, some of which had people in them. Others had been restaurants, and a couple looked like lobbies. They were going by so fast that by the time she registered what she was seeing it had already progressed to the next room.

When was this thing going to stop? Was it going to stop or was she supposed to just step out? How was she supposed to know when to step out? What if she didn't go to the same place? What if she went too far? Could she end up on the other side of the world? Would she ever find her parents again? Why didn't she ask all these questions before stepping into the fire?


	4. Warlock Lane

Before she could finish that last question, she came to a dead stop in what looked like a dining hall and almost fell face first into the ground. Her father was there to catch her and to quickly pull her out of the way. The fire behind her turned green again and her mother stepped out. The two of them were sprinkled in ashes and her father quickly dusted them off, making sure neither were on fire.

"Well now wasn't that exciting. I almost forgot what that felt like," her father said with a large grin on his face. He then turned around to take in the scenery.

Delilah looked around in awe as she did the same. There were lit candles floating all on their own a few feet from the ceiling. The walls were covered in a dark wood paneling, candle lit sconces, and plenty of artwork. She noticed that all of the paintings on the walls were moving. Some were portraits, others just scenery. Taking a closer look at one painting, she watched as the grass swayed in the breeze, seagulls swoop through the air, the ocean crashing onto the beach, and a mermaid on a rock who appeared to be waving at her. Wait was she really waving at her? Delilah waved back and the mermaid laughed. She really was waving at her. _Crazy._

Looking around the room again, she saw a woman actually having a conversation with one of the portraits of a handsome looking man. _How strange._ She was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen before. She had long blonde hair that fell in waves, porcelain white skin, rosy pink cheeks, and her eyes were the brightest blue she had ever seen. It was then that she realized the woman was crying and she could tell she was in mourning. She was even dressed in all black. She shouldn't be staring. Delilah shook her head and looked away. _Why did it seem so hard to look away from that lady?_

Taking in the whole room, she realized she was in a bar or restaurant of sorts. It was a large room with at least 20-30 tables spread throughout and a long bar along one wall. The room was lit by only the candles and fireplace, so it gave off a bit of a creepy (or was it supposed to be cozy?) ambiance. It appeared that it was not a busy time for this place, as there were not a whole lot of people inside.

At one of the tables, a man was laughing loudly with another man who was larger than any she had ever seen before. He had to have been over twelve feet tall! He had long curly brown hair that was starting to grey and a beard that matched, his over sized gut bumping into the table with each bellowing laugh. The other man, who was of average size, was covered in scars which actually made him quite terrifying to look at. Had it not been for the scars though, he would most certainly have looked like any other Joe Schmo on the street. His laugh did seem more like a bark though, which did seem rather odd. They both appeared drunk and were spilling their drinks everywhere.

There were a couple of women, wearing what looked like cape style floor length coats, sitting in some comfy looking seats by the window. They drinking some warm beverages and nibbling on some cookies. Nothing too odd about them, until she realized that their drinks were preparing themselves, and their teapot never seemed to empty.

In a dark corner, there was a pale man with dark hair that was long enough to cover his ears and shield some of his face. He was wearing a trench coat with the collar sticking up, looking like he was hiding from something. He was drinking some dark, thick liquid out of a glass that looked awfully like blood. The sight of him was frightening enough until he looked at Delilah with those bright red eyes. She shuddered as she looked away. He had looked very much like a hunter, and made her feel very uneasy like she was the prey.

Up at the bar there was a rather short pudgy man with big pointy ears and a large head yelling at the barkeep. His skin was a weird brownish green color, covered in warts, and all wrinkly looking. What little hair he had on his head was snow white and stuck out kind of like Einstein's. He was unhappy with his bill or something because he kept shaking a piece of paper at her.

The barkeep was a young woman with hair that kept changing colors. It was blond at first, but was starting to turn red as she yelled back at the little man. Delilah couldn't believe her eyes when her face kind of morphed into a more frightening version of itself when she screamed at him. The ugly elf looking man then threw some money and his drink at her, and stormed out of the pace. Just behind her, there were large glass orbs with spouts floating in the air, containing what looked like different types of ale. Luckily they moved out of the way when the glass came flying in their direction so they didn't get smashed into a million pieces.

Delilah had then noticed that her parents had already gotten a table and were waving at her in an attempt to get her to join them. They both had a look of amusement on their faces.

"It's quite a lot to take in huh?" her mom asked with a knowing look. "I remember the first time your dad took me to a place like this. I almost fainted! Just wait until you see Warlock Lane!"

The barkeep approached the table before she had a chance to ask what Warlock Lane was and brought them some menus. Her hair was a soft teal color now and she was smiling warmly. "Welcome to The Harvest Moon. My name is Frieda, here's some menus for ya. Sorry about Fred there, he tends to get a bit grumpy sometimes. Feel free to take a look through our menus, there's some specials up there on the board, and when you find what you'd like, just let me know!"

Delilah and her parents enjoyed a rather pleasant lunch there at the Harvest Moon. Compared to all that was going on when they arrived, their meal was rather uneventful but wonderful all the same. Her parents even let her try a butterbeer for the first time. It was so sweet and creamy and warmed up her insides. She had never tasted anything so amazing before.

Once they finished up with their meal, they prepared to make their journey through Warlock Lane. Her father double checked that he had the list handy as Delilah and her mother gathered their belongings. They made their way to the opposite end of the restaurant to a pair of large stained glass doors that were easily large enough to accommodate that overly large man she saw earlier. When she got closer to the doors, she realized they were inlaid with smaller doors for average sized people and also for smaller people like that grumpy little man from the bar. Through the glass, she could see that they lead out to a busy street.

Once through the doors, Delilah was overwhelmed by the scenery once again. There were people everywhere, though they mainly seemed like families with children about her age. They were all carrying large bags and were wearing those long cape like coats. Some were even wearing the pointy black hats. Some of the older children were wearing striped scarves of different colors, but she noticed that four 2 color combinations seemed to be common. Purple and white, brown and green, blue and black, grey and red. Those must be the colors of the houses her father had been talking about.

Taking a look at the street itself, she noticed that the buildings were all rather old looking but still in great shape and were all pressed together, leaving little to no room between. The roads were cobblestone, and there were even marchants with carts lining the road selling various goods. Some of the buildings were so oddly put together that they had to have been held together by magic because they were breaking all the laws of gravity.

"We should probably stop by the bank so we can get some money before we head into any of the stores," her father said as he head off down the road.

Walking down the street she peered into some of the windows and could not believe her eyes. One shop had books floating to and from shelves to the people waiting inside. Another had pets of all kinds, she didn't even know what a few of them were. Then the next shop had brooms flying through the air with no one on them. She bumped into a young girl who was peering into the broom shop and decided she should probably watch where she was going. The building they were headed to was one of the buildings that defied gravity. It was the only building that stood on its own block, due mainly to the fact that it was so large. It seemed to look like the builders had just continued to randomly build more and more rooms onto it, no matter which direction they went, and with no apparent order.

They walked up the steps to the front door and stepped inside. The main room was a wide hallway with tall counters lining the walls where more of those ugly looking elf men were helping customers. From the looks on all of their faces, they didn't seem to be a happy sort of people. All of them wore the same disgruntled frown. Noticing an open counter her father walked over to it and said, "I'd like to visit vault number 368 please."

"Key please," the not so cute elf man said in a grumpy tone. Her father dug into his pocket and pulled out an old fashioned skeleton key and handed it to the man. "Alright, this way."

They walked to the end of the corridor farthest from the entrance and passed through a large archway. Shivers ran down Delilah spine and she caught her parents shiver at the same time. It felt like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over her head, but she was back to normal quickly. _What in the world was that?_

Just on the other side of the archway were elevator doors. There were four of them, side by side, and they were very old looking. They stepped into the first one they came across and waited as the grumpy elf closed the doors and pulled the lever. The cart shuttered and then went up 3 levels before coming to a sudden halt. They exited the elevator and walked down several corridors lined with numbered doors that had reminded her of a hotel. Each door had a chair out front, a few of which had other ugly elves in them. They walked down so many hallways Delilah was certain she would have gotten lost in here forever had they not been guided.

Finally after what seemed like forever, they reached the door labeled 368 and the elf man inserted the key into the keyhole. He then waved his wand over the door. When he was done, the door started making clanking sounds, like many gears being turned, and after a few moments, the door popped open.

"I will wait out here until you are ready to go," the elf man said grumpily, settling into the chair. "Try not to take forever. I don't have time to be waiting all day."

Without responding, her father walked into the room with her mother in tow. She followed them in and what she saw made her gasp. To put it plainly, they had walked into a room the size of their basement and it was full of all sorts of things. The first thing that caught her eye was the mounds upon mounds of gold that was taking up almost half of the room. She had never seen so much gold before. The other half of the room was full of antique furniture, jewels, and other random yet expensive looking items.

"Is this all ours?" Delilah asked in shock, walking over to inspect a table full of ornate jewelry. It had all looked so expensive she dared not touch any of it.

"Well it was my family's, and since they are gone, I guess it is," her dad responded distractedly. He was busy looking for something. "Do either of you see a small leather satchel anywhere?"

There happened to be an antique leather fanny pack looking bag on the chair right next to her so she grabbed it and brought it over to her father. He began grabbing handfuls of gold and shoving them into the bag filling it up, barely even making a dent in the pile. She wouldn't have even be able to notice it was missing if she hadn't seen him grab it herself.

"Alright, all stocked up and ready to go," her father said as he was heading for the door. "Let's get to shopping."

They were greeted outside the door by the disgruntled elf man and he pulled the door shut, waving his wand over the door again. The gears were turning and when they stopped, he pulled out the key and handed it back to her father.

"This way please," he said not sounding very polite at all and walked off without even making sure they were following. They followed him down the maze of hallways and down the elevator. It seemed like they took a different way back than they had coming in, but looking around Delilah figured there were probably numerous ways to traverse the maze of hallways. Once back in the lobby, her father thanked the guy and they were on their way.

"What was that guy anyways? Is that what elves really look like?" Delilah asked her father. "They don't seem so merry and bright!"

With a chuckle her father responded, "no, that is what is called a goblin. They run all the Wizarding banks. They are really good with money AND security, so it really is a perfect job for them."

"Huh, and what was that when we walked back there? It felt like I got dunked in ice water."

"Just a security precaution. It's a spell that detects if someone is in disguise," he said as he was pulling out her school supply list. "Alright, where to first, clothes, books, or supplies?"

"Books," Delilah and her mother said at the same time.

"I figured that's where you would want to go first," her mother said with a knowing smile. Maybe her mother really did understand her. Most girls would go for clothes first, but apparently she was no ordinary girl. Books had always been her favorite.

They walked over to the shop she had looked in on the way to the bank. It wasn't crowded as it had been before, which was just perfect. Last thing she wanted was to have to endure a lot of chatter while perusing through the books. Walking in, she took a deep breath. There was no smell quite as comforting as the smell of a bookstore. She looked around in awe. She had never seen so many books before. There were tall shelves lining all of the walls and sliding ladders to get to each. The bookshelves were twice as tall as she had thought they would be, they took up two stories. They were so tall it didn't make sense. _The building was definitely not that tall outside. How was that possible?_

Seeing the confused look on his daughter's face, her father turned to her and said, "It's an enlargement charm. Pretty cool huh?"

She nodded her agreement and walked over to the closest bookshelf. It was full of old, worn out books that looked like they had been handed down for generations. She opened one and just smelled it. What was it about the smell of old books that warmed her soul? She put it back on the shelf and returned to her parents, realizing they were speaking with whom she assumed was the shopkeeper. He was an ancient looking man with only a little bit of white hair sticking out the sides of his head, just barely reaching past his huge ears. He had small spectacles barely holding on to the edge of his large nose. As he read over the list in his hand, he waved his wand with the other and the books magically floated down into a neat stack on the counter next to the register.

While he was doing this, the sounds of what she thought were animals caught her attention. In a large bird cage, there were a handful of fuzzy looking things snapping at each other. Upon closer inspection, she realized they were actually books. The books had small eyes, sharp teeth, and were covered in brown fur. As she looked closer, one of the books snapped right in her face causing her to stumble back.

"Watch out for those ones, their bite is much worse than their bark. Here, let me get one, it's on your list too," the shopkeeper said carefully reaching into the cage with a stick.

"How am I supposed to read that if it only wants to bite me?" Delilah asked incredulously. She most definitely did not want to lose a hand and could never imagine having to carry it, let alone read it.

"Simple," he responded. "just stroke the spine."

As he cornered one and pet it lovingly, it calmed right down and allowed the shopkeeper to grab it out. At that point he latched it closed and put it in the bag with the other books.

"Alright, that brings your total to 80 galleons," the shopkeeper said after he rang them all up. Her father reached into his fanny pack and started handing over the gold.

"Man who would have thought books would cost so much," her father said with a chuckle. "You're gonna run me dry!" She knew he was just joking since they clearly had enough money, so she didn't take him seriously as she resumed her perusing of the store.

"Alright, I know where to next. This way," Her father said as they left the shop.

Her father walked straight to a shop not too far away. There were no windows for this shop so she had no idea what they would get there. The sign above the door just read _Jonkers._ When they walked inside, there were shelves upon shelves of small boxes. She walked over to read the label on one of the boxes.

 **Wood:** **Acacia**

 **Core:** **Phoenix Tailfeather**

 **Length:** **13 ¾"**

 **Resilience:** **Unyielding**

"Hello! Welcome to Jonker's Wand Emporium. I assume your visit today is for the lovely young lady, am I correct?" the shopkeeper said exuberantly, getting Delilah's attention. He was a rather attractive man. He appeared to be in his mid 20's, with the most gorgeous flowing brown hair that seemed to sit just right no matter which way he moved. He gazed at you with these piercing blue eyes, and a wide grin with teeth that were so brilliantly white they sparkled. He looked like the knight in shining armor who just jumped right out of a fairy tale. Except instead of shining armor, he was in a button up shirt and bowtie with a work apron tied around his waist, covered in flecks of wood from head to toe.

"Yeah," Delilah replied sheepishly, blushing a bit at the attention.

"Well, welcome to my shop. My name is Johannes Jonkers. What might your name be?"

"Delilah" she said softly.

"What a beautiful name. How lovely it is to meet you Delilah! I've got quite the knack for picking out wands for people and I think I know just the wand for you!" he said as he climbed a ladder to grab a box off the top shelf. He slid back down the ladder, popped open the box, and offered her the wand. "Redwood, mermaid hair core, 10", flexible. Now give it a flick!"

She remembered the last time she used a wand and how the wand reacted to her movements, so she made a small swipe with it. As she did, all the boxes off a whole bookshelf came flying off.

"Oops," Delilah said softly. Her whole face was red from embarrassment now. She carefully set the wand down on the counter, making sure to move slowly so she didn't ruin anything else.

"No worries, no worries! Easy fix!" Johannes said with a big smile. With one wave of his wand the boxes started putting themselves back. "That was definitely not the right one. Hmm. Oh! I know just the one!"

He went straight over to the box Delilah had read before. _What a coincidence!_ He came back and handed her the wand. It was beautiful with dark brown wood, perfectly straight, with a carving of flowers in the handle. Each flower was inlaid with mother of pearl of various shades of color. When she picked it up she felt it hum in her hand.

"Alright, I want you to think of something specific you want to do, and then give it a whirl," He said. "I got a real good feeling about this one!"

Delilah closed her eyes and pictured delicate flowers, like the ones on the wand she was holding, floating through the air and slowly made a big arch like a rainbow. When she opened her eyes she couldn't believe it. Tiny flowers were floating down from the ceiling. It was so beautiful. She looked to her parents and laughed as she saw they were covered in flowers.

"I knew it!" Johannes exclaimed. "A beautiful wand for a beautiful girl."

Her father settled up the bill as she reluctantly put it back in the box. She loved it so much that she didn't want to set it down. She knew they still had quite a bit of shopping to do and she didn't want to break it. Especially not before she really got a chance to use it. Stepping outside into the beautiful sunshine, her father turned to her and asked "clothes first or last?"

"Last."

"Alright. The rest of the items on this list can be grabbed at the same spot. How about you guys head to The Witches Brew and get started on the list. I have to go run and do something real quick. I'll come find you when I'm done" her father had said with a smile.

Delilah and her mother headed to The Witches Brew. It was a grocery store of sorts with aisles of shelves each lined with a random assortment of items. Her mother grabbed a shopping cart before heading to the first aisle; Cauldrons. Delilah could not even believe how many types of cauldrons there were. They ranged in size from as small as a teacup to the size of a bathtub and were offered in many types of material like pottery, metal, and glass.

"It says here on the list, pewter, size 2," her mother read off the list, pushing the cart down the aisle.

"Got it," Delilah said, dragging over a grey smaller sized cauldron the size of a stew pot and heaving it into the cart.

"Ok, now we need vials and a scale. I think I saw those on the next aisle." Her mom said pushing the cart along. One half of the aisle was lined with beakers, vials, and flasks. The other with scales, both the electric kind and the old fashion two basket kind.

"One set of glass or crystal vials, and one set of brass scales."

"I think I want to go with the crystal vials, and can I get this set of scales?" she asked showing her mom a slightly ornate set of scales. It had flowers carved into the bottom of the bowls on the scale and a vine of flowers wrapping around the poles.

"Of course you can," her father said sneaking up behind Delilah and causing her to jump. He had a huge smile on his face "Anything for my darling daughter. Speaking of, happy belated birthday! I figure this way you have no excuse to write us while you are gone!"

Her father was holding a bird cage, and in it, the most beautiful and tiny owl she had ever seen. It had big round eyes and was colored like salt and pepper. It was no bigger than a football and it cooed as Delilah crouched down to see it. She jumped into her father's arms and squeezed him tightly.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you daddy! I love it!" Delilah squealed, picking up the cage to get a better look at it. It was silver and had a few vines of flowers in place of standard bars.

"Of course sweetpea. It's a girl but she doesn't have a name yet, so you get to name her" her father said.

She thought about it for a second and then said, "I think I'll name her Luna!"

"Perfect!" Her father said as he placed the owl in the cart. "Fits her perfectly. Looks like the last thing we need is a telescope and some writing utensils. I saw the telescopes on the way in, there in the front corner."

After a bit of searching, she found a pretty telescope that had a vine of flowers winding around it to match her wand, scale, and owl cage. They also grabbed her some scrolls of parchment, quills, ink, and a wax seal kit. They pushed the now heavy cart to the checkstand and rang everything up. The clerk shrunk her cauldron so it wouldn't be so difficult to carry, saying it would pop back to normal size in 5 hours, giving them plenty of time to make it home.

Last (and most deaded) was the clothes. They went to the clothing store Wendy's Witch & Wizard Wear. They hurried through the process and managed to make it out of there with the rest of the list checked off in under 15 minutes. That must have been a record. Finally the list was complete and they were all worn out with sore arms from carrying the bags everywhere.

"Let's stop for a treat from Sabrina's Sickly Sweets before we head out and give ourselves a break," her father said walking over to a brightly colored store.

Walking into the store was like walking into a rainbow. Magical unicorn toys were flying through the air and everywhere she looked, she found a new color. Floating in the middle of the store was an actual rainbow with the clouds and everything. If it weren't for the vast selection of candy, she would have probably never even stepped foot in there. There were so many candies to choose from she didn't know where to look first. The first thing that caught her eye was a large glass globe that was in the center of the room. Inside it was what looked like chocolate frogs, but they were hopping around the globe. Reading the label she realized she was right. They were chocolate frogs.

"Want one?" her father asked.

She could never imagine having to bite into something moving so she shook her head no and moved to the bins right next to it. It looked like quills but looking at the one they had on display, she noticed that it wrote in candy instead of ink.

"Ooh! I want some of these!" Delilah said grabbing a few.

"Go ahead, grab what you'd like. Your father and I are going to go sit at that table by the window with the bags. Let me know when you're done" her mother replied.

Next she came across a shelf of boxes that looked like jelly beans. The name read _Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans_. She picked up the box to read the label and was slightly repulsed by the flavors listed on the back. _Who would want to eat a jelly bean flavored like barf?_ She was curious though, so she grabbed a box of those as well.

Her curiosity got the better of her and by the time she was done looking around she could barely carry her selection up to the counter. She got some chocolate cauldrons, a few liquorice wands, a handful of Drooble's best blowing gum, jelly slugs, fizzing whizbees, treacle fudge, and exploding bonbons as well. Walking up to the counter with her arm full of candy, her father walked up behind her.

"Are you sure you left any candy back there for the other kids?" her father laughed. "You would think you were never getting candy again!"

"What? I was curious!" Delilah responded, starting to blush from embarrassment. The clerk just smiled and bagged everything up for her while her father paid the bill.

"I'm beat AND broke now. Let's get out of here while I still can leave with the clothes on my back," her father said jokingly. "Looks like we are all set. Let's head on home and unload."

They gathered up the bags and headed back to The Harvest Moon. It was starting to get busy in there as the dinner rush started so they hurried through the building and stopped in front of the fireplace.

"Here, I'll go first and bring as many bags as I can so you guys don't have to worry about holding on to them." He grabbed a small tin out of his pocket, grabbed some ash out of it, and handed it to her mother.

"Steward household" her father said after throwing the ash in the fire. The flames burned green and her father stepped through.

"You can go first, I'll carry the rest of the bags" her mother said, offering the tin so she could grab some ash. This was definitely less awkward than grabbing it out of the urn.

She threw the ashes in the fire, said "Steward household," and waited for the fire to turn green before she stepped through. This time she knew what to expect so she didn't need her dad to catch her on the other side. She was a bit more graceful on the exit this go round and her mother followed not long after. Her parents gathered all the bags together in the living room next the chest that was still sitting on the coffee table.

Grabbing the items from inside the chest, her father turned to her and said, "this trunk here has been in our family for generations. My great, great grandfather decided to go explore the world after he graduated from wizarding school, so he put an enlargement charm and protection spell on it before heading out. That way it would not get damaged in transit and he could fill it with whatever he needed. It got passed down through the generations and Dee-dee was the last one to be able to use it. She inherited it from Lyle after he graduated, and now I want to pass it on to you."

With tears in her eyes Delilah gave her father a big hug. "Thank you daddy, and you too momma, for everything! What am I going to do without you guys while I'm gone?" she said starting to cry.

"Don't worry. Since you have Luna now, we will write to you all the time and we can come visit whenever you want!" her mother said, starting to cry herself. " Plus you can come home for the holidays too!"

"Ladies, ladies. No need for the waterworks. You're just going to school, not moving to Mars," her father said jokingly, enveloping them both in a hug, looking like he was tearing up as well. "Why don't you get this stuff packed and then we will work on dinner."

While she was packing everything into her trunk (except for the cauldron since it had not returned to its regular size yet) she starting thinking about the amazing day she had just had. Who would have thought that the ordinary girl from last night would end up being so extraordinary? That thought brought her to a screeching halt.

Lia.

She had completely forgotten about Lia. In all the excitement of the day she forgot that she had totally left her hanging with no explanation. She must be losing her mind at this point wondering what was going on. She tossed the rest of her stuff into the trunk and ran into the kitchen.

"Lia….." she said to her parents, out of breath. "What do I tell Lia?"

Her parents looked at eachother and her mother said, "We were just talking about that. Seeing as how Lia already knows about what you have been through so far, and has not said anything to anyone else, we feel like it would be ok if you told her. Just make sure she knows that she CANNOT say anything to anyone, not even her parents. We can decide at a later time if and when she can tell them."

She squealed her excitement and ran out of the kitchen straight to Lia's. She could not wait to tell her everything!


	5. The Flying Dutchman

"Come on. Get up. You don't want to be late on your first day!" her mother said shaking her shoulder gently.

"Ugh, I don't wanna go to school," she said, still half asleep. Why was she so tired? Oh yeah, she couldn't sleep the night before. When she remembered why she shot up out of bed. "First day of school! I'm up! I'm up!"

She was so excited last night she couldn't fall asleep. She kept tossing and turning thinking about what it would be like. Jumping out of bed she changed into the clothes she had picked out last night, ran her brush through her hair, and skipped to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She bounded into the kitchen and her mother was sitting at the table waiting for her to come in, table full of all her favorite foods. She sat down immediately and started piling her plate full of food.

"Mom. Hoe am I supposed ta surbibe wifout your yummy foob?" Delilah said with a mouth full of food.

"I'm sure you'll survive," her mother responded with a smile, eyes starting to glisten with tears. "From what your father has told me, they will be more than prepared to feed you properly."

"Yeah, meaning feasts for every meal, just like your mother apparently made for you today" her father said walking in the room and planting a kiss on Delilah's head before sitting down. "I wouldn't be surprised if you came back looking like a float from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade!"

"Our baby is leaving us and all you can do is joke," her mother said jokingly, still looking like she was about to cry. "Our baby girl is growing up!"

The tears started falling now. "Mom, don't cry! You're gonna make me cry and then we'll never get out of here in time!" Delilah said, tears forming in her eyes. "Like you guys said last night. It's not like I'm gonna be gone forever!"

The tear fest was interrupted by the front door bursting open. Lia ran through house, swooped Delilah out of her chair, and gave her a hug so tight she couldn't breathe. "What am I going to do at school without my best friend?! I'm gonna be alone!"

"Ladies, ladies, just like Delilah said, if we start with the waterworks now, we will never make it in time. Turn off the faucets and wipe away the tears. We got a schedule to maintain," her father said, starting to sound a bit sad himself. "Lia, are you joining us for the departure?"

"Of course! I don't start school till next week so I have nowhere to be other than saying goodbye to my best friend and then moping around without her," she said with a sniffle. "I don't know what I will do in order to survive without her."

"Well there is obviously enough food here for an army, have you eaten yet?" her father said pointing out the food.

Lia greedily eyed the food like she hadn't eaten in weeks, "no I have not, I jumped out of bed, got dressed and ran over here. I didn't want to miss saying goodbye."

They all sat down and gorged themselves on the delicious breakfast laid out before them. Once they had all had their fill, her father pulled out that fanny pack of his and handed it to her. It was still had a handful gold, silver, and bronze coins.

"Now this should be more than enough to get you through the school year, but if you happen to need some more, just send Luna," her father said. "It has been protected with a spell so only you can open it, that way it will be safe."

She smiled and gave her father a hug and stashed it in her backpack that she had packed her robe, hat, and wand in for her first day. She would change once she got there since it would look rather odd to be walking down the street in her wizarding clothes. They loaded Delilah's trunk, backpack, and owl cage into the car, and set off. The car ride was rather quiet aside from the soft music playing through the speakers and the girls' chatting from the back seat. They drove for a while and when they stopped, they were at the pier.

"What are we doing here?" Delilah asked with wonder. "I thought we were going to the school?"

"Just wait and see," her father said. They pulled up to the unloading dock and her father stopped the car. "I'm gonna let you guys out and I'll go park the car. I'll meet you right back here."

They pulled out Delilah's trunk and waited patiently for her father to park the car. When he came back he had the Ilvormorny acceptance letter in his hand. He pulled out and handed her a small piece of paper and held onto the rest. She looked down at the paper and realized it was a ticket.

 **Gateway Marina to Ilvermorny**

 **One way ticket**

 **Slip number 313**

 **Departure on September 1st at 11am**

"I'm traveling by boat?" Delilah asked, incredulity.

"Not just any old boat, you'll see," her father responded, loading her trunk and owl cage onto a push cart. "Come on, let's go."

They walked along the pier and walked out to the farthest slip. Walking up the last bit of the pier, Delilah realized there was no boat parked at the end. There was just an old man sitting in a chair fishing off the pier, positioned just before an archway labeled _Slip 313_. _Did the boat already take off?_

"Dad, where's the boat?"

"Come on, just follow me" he said as he walked up to the man fishing. "Here, hand that man there your ticket."

Beyond confused she handed the man her ticket. He set his pole down in the pole holder attached to the pier and put his spectacles on to read the ticket. He flipped it over a few times, seeming to check its authenticity.

"Good to go," was all he said as he pointed through the archway to the end of the pier. "Right this way."

"But Mr. Steward, there's nothing there." Lia said.

The old man chuckled and Delilah's father smiled. "Come on, like I said, you'll see!"

Her parents walked on through the archway and disappeared. The girls stood there dumbfounded.

"Better get a move on or you'll miss your boat," the old man chuckled, recasting his line, not even looking in their direction.

This snapped them out of their stupor. The girls turned to each other and shrugged before walking through the archway. Once on the other side, the whole scene changed. They were standing on a crowded dock full of people, all saying goodbye, and waiting to board the huge sailboat parked in the slip. It was the most beautiful and biggest ship she had ever seen. It was ornately carved with a mermaid at the bow and dolphins carved into the sides. The sails were each a different color and depicted different creatures (a snake, a large bird, a cat, and another ugly elf looking creature she had never seen before). They mimicked the scarves she had seen on Warlock Lane, most likely symbolizing the houses of Ilvermorny. The largest sail had the same symbol on it as the wax seal on her acceptance letter. On the back of the boat was the name " **The Flying Dutchman**."

Hearing her parents call to her while waving their arms, she looked away from the ship, and found them in the crowd. There was so much commotion, she almost didn't hear them, and with so many people there, it took a bit to get to them. With Lia in tow she finally reached where her parents were waiting, they had just handed off her trunk to a crewmember. Her mother was already starting to cry.

"Now sweetheart, I want you to be safe. Follow the rules and don't get yourself in any trouble," her mother said enveloping her in a hug, sniffling in her ear.

"Like that'll happen. Miss goodie two shoes," Lia chuckled only loud enough for Delilah to hear.

"And make sure to keep up with your studies," her father said, also giving her a hug.

"Miss teacher's pet is bound to do great," Lia joked quietly again.

"And don't forget about me while you are gone!" she said loudly and dramatically, picking Delilah up in a hug that almost crushed her ribs.

"And don't forget to write!" her parents said in unison. You'd think they had all practiced this speech before bringing her. They all gave her a big group hug with her entrapped in the middle. "Alright, alright. I can't breathe!"

Her mother gave her one last hug with tears in her eyes, "I'm so proud of you honey. I miss you already! I love you! Write soon!"

"Now you take care. I love you!" her father said as he kissed her forehead, handing over her backpack and Luna's cage. "And don't forget to take care of Luna too, I packed some treats and toys for her in your trunk. She'll most likely hang out in the owlery for the most part and they will make sure to feed her, but don't forget to give her some love!"

"Last and most importantly, don't forget to have a bit of fun!" Lia said with a wink giving her one last hug.

She headed towards the ship looking back at her family and waved before boarding the ship. She immediately went to railing on deck and waved to her family as the boat bell dinged, signaling it was about to depart. The crew hoisted the anchor and they were off. She stood there and waved until her family became indistinguishable and went to figure out where she should be.

There was a crew member shouting near a doorway that lead to underbelly of the ship. "All students, report to your cabins on your appropriate level. Ladies, down this staircase, gentlemen, your staircase is at the bow of the ship. First years, first floor, second years, second floor, and so on. Please report to your floor master for cabin arrangements."

She continued to repeat her speech while everyone had made it inside. A male crewmember was repeating the appropriate version of the speech at the other end of the ship. Following the other female students she made her way down to the first floor below deck. As promised, there was another crew member waiting, clipboard in hand.

"Jennifer Langley, cabin 138, all the way down the hall this way, door will be on the right," she said pointing down the hallway to her right.

"Linda Cartwright, cabin 156, just down the other way, door is on the left," she said pointing down the opposite direction. Delilah was next.

"Name please," the crewmember said not even looking up from her list.

"Delilah Steward," she said sheepishly.

"Steward, Steward, oh here it is. Cabin 113, down this hallway, door will be on the left," she said pointing down the hallway she sent Jennifer down.

Walking down the hallway, she noticed all the doors on the left were odd and the doors on the right were even. She was trying to keep her mind occupied so she could keep her excitement at bay. She finally reached her door and looked inside. It was much bigger in there than she had imagined. They must have have used an enlargement charm on the rooms so it wouldn't be so crowded. She saw that the room was set up for two people, so she assumed she would have to share her cabin with someone else that had yet to arrive. She set Luna down on one of the tables and set her backpack on a comfy looking chair. _It must not be a very long ride if there were no beds,_ she thought. She pulled her Robe and hat out of her bag and hung them on a hook near the window that she could see the ocean through. It was crystal blue and she saw a few dolphins swimming along with the boat.

As she turned back around she realized that another girl was standing at her door. She had light brown wavy hair, honey colored eyes, a cat carrier under her arm with a small black kitten inside, and a bag in the other. She was wearing a pair of cut up jeans, a band t-shirt, sweater tied around her waist, and a pair of chucks like Delilah's but bright blue instead.

"Hello, you must be my cabin mate. My name is Samantha, but I go by Sam, what's your name?" she said with a smile as she walked in, setting down her luggage, and extended her hand in greeting.

"I'm Delilah. Nice to meet you," she responded shyly and shook her hand. "It must be your first time too, huh?"

"Yeah but my whole family are wizards and my older brother told me all about it. We're going to be staying in a castle! Did you know that?" she asked, excitement in her voice.

"Really? I've never been in a castle before. I can't wait to see it!" Delilah said with a smile. "My father's a squid and my mother is a no-wiz."

"You mean _Squib_ and _no-maj,"_ Sam said with a chuckle. "You must be new to the Wizarding world huh?"

Delilah blushed, "yeah, sorry. My parents hid the Wizarding world from me since they had thought I was a squib too. I guess they decided it was safest to just keep me out of it since my father's family was killed during the war," she said trying to not be embarrassed.

"I wasn't trying to make fun of you or anything. Don't worry about it! It happens all the time. I'm sorry about your family though," Sam said quickly hoping to not have offended Delilah, "a lot of us lost people we loved to the war. My grandfather fought in the war too. He was tormented by the death eaters. They are a nasty group of people. They all deserve to rot in Azkaban."

"What's Azkaban?" Delilah asked.

Realizing that Delilah did not know a whole lot about the Wizarding world, she went on a bit of a tangent, "Oh, that's the prison where all of the really bad people are sent. The ones who do the unforgivable curses. Those are curses that do things like kill people or put them under your control. It's ran by a bunch of dementors, very scary creatures. They can suck away all of your soul with just one kiss leaving you an empty shell. They had once teamed up with Voldemort during the war. He was the evil mastermind leader behind the death eaters. They were forgiven afterwards, the dementors that is, as long as they stay in Azkaban. Any who venture off are immediately killed."

Seeing how frightened Delilah was starting to look she spoke quickly again, "but you don't have to worry about any of that. Azkaban is far far away and we will be very safe at Ilvermorny. It's protected by all kinds of protection charms and all the teachers are top notch in dueling. ' _No safer place than Ilvermorny,'_ they say."

At this point the boat jerked unexpectedly and Delilah almost fell over. "What was that?" She said looking to Sam.

"Take a look out the window and see!" she said with a knowing smile.

Delilah hurried to the window and peered outside. Instead of seeing waves around her, she saw clouds. "We're flying?"

"Well we can't very well make it to Mt Greylock by water," Sam said jokingly. "My brother said it takes about 3 hours from this point so we have some time to waste. Wanna go explore the ship? If you're hungry, you might want to grab some mula. I hear there is a snack cart here and we won't be getting any food till dinner."

Delilah grabbed some of the coins and a couple treats she had packed into her bag from Sabrina's Sickly Sweets, offering Sam a liquorice wand as they took off to explore the ship.


	6. Ilvermorny

"Please report back to your cabins, we are approaching Ilvermorny." The words seemed to be coming from the ship itself. _Man this whole magic thing was going to take some time to get used to._ They had been wandering the hallways and had stopped at the food cart to grab some sandwiches and cauldron cakes. They weren't the only ones who had that idea. There were students everywhere. At one point they had ran across a pair of blonde haired twin boys who were running down the hallway, zapping each other with their wands. One of them winked at her as they ran by, causing her to blush. They had been seen not long after being dragged back by their ears from where they gone by a crewmember.

"I've had just about enough from you two," the crewmember said, annoyance in his voice. "You both are fully aware you aren't supposed to be using your wands outside of school. I have half a mind to report you to the Headmaster."

The boys did not appear to be embarrassed, but were instead trying to not laugh. The twin who had not winked at her before now smiled at her, shrugging his shoulders as if to say ' _what can you do?'_ causing the girls to laugh. The girls found their way back to their cabin just as the voice from the boat said, "Last call. Touchdown in 5 minutes."

"We should probably change into our robes if we're that close," Sam said, grabbing her robes out if her bag. "Those boys were awfully cute, that one is pretty funny."

"It wasn't the same boy both times," Delilah corrected.

"How could you tell? They looked the same to me."

Delilah was not sure how to respond to that since she wasn't really sure herself, so she just shrugged. She grabbed her robe off the hook and put it on. She took her hat to the mirror to make sure it everything was straight. Just as she got it perfect, the boat lurched causing her hat to go all lopsided. She straightened her hat as the voice spoke again.

"Please proceed to the deck in an orderly fashion and await further instructions. We hope you enjoyed your trip. Welcome to Ilvermorny!"

Peeking out the window she saw they had settled in a small lake. She couldn't really see much else other than water and trees. Before she turned away, something rippled in the water. She swore she saw a flash of purple but before she could get a good look all she could see was a ripple in the water. She was pulled from her thoughts by Sam who was waiting by the door, bags in hand. "Are you coming or do you wanna stay on the ship?"

Delilah pulled herself away from the window, gathered her belongings, and followed Sam to the deck. The boat was pulled up to a dock and in the distance she could see a road that lead up to a mountain. She could not see the top of it though, it was hidden by clouds. Just past the docks there were buggie style carriages being loaded with students and were being pulled up the road by white horses. As she got closer she realized they were no ordinary white horses, they were unicorns! She couldn't believe her eyes. They were beautiful! They seemed to glisten in the sunlight reflecting rainbows off their fur and wings. Their horns were iridescent like the mother of pearl on her wand. She walked right up to one and cautiously pet it. It was the softest thing she had ever touched before.

"Alright, first years hang back here. Second and above, load on up and head to the castle. You know the drill!" A tall attractive younger man said. He had sandy blonde hair that flowed in waves down to his chin and sea green eyes. He was in robes and a pointy hat as well. He walked with a bit of a limp and carried a cane he used off and on.

"That's Professor Lovejoy. Dreamy ain't he?" Sam said. "He is the head of house for the Wampus house."

Delilah and other students her age gathered by the Professor. They watched as the others loaded into the carriages, forming a long line of carts going up the road to the mountain. All of their luggage was being loaded into a rather large open cart being pulled by four unicorns. They had to have been using magic to keep them all in there because they were being precariously stacked in a way that would have otherwise toppled down.

"Alright, now we will load into the carriages. Four students per carriage. Take your pets with you, and for the love of Merlin, keep hold of them. Last thing we need is to have to stop the whole line to go looking for lost little Fluffy. Once we get to the castle, there will be helpers to take them to your rooms for you. From there you will line up along the walls for the sorting and then we will proceed to the dining hall for the welcoming feast. Ok, what are you waiting for? Let's get a move on. I'm starving!"

The rest of the students lined up, each waiting to board a carriage, pets in tow. As she was waiting in line someone bumped into her. When she turned to see who it was, she was surprised to see it was one of the twins. It was the one who smiled at her.

"Pretty exciting, huh?" he said with another smile. "My name is Lorcan, what's yours?"

"Delilah," she said sheepishly. After being elbowed in the ribs she turned to introduce her new friend. "This here is Sam."

"Pleasure to meet both of your acquaintances," he said as his brother jumped on his back from behind. "And this here rascal is my brother Lysander."

"We're twins if you can't tell," Lysander said with a mischievous smile. "I know we look nothing alike!"

Lorcan just shook his head and motioned to the carriages, "mind if we share one with you guys?"

"Of course!" Sam said without a second thought.

 _Oh man. This going to be a long ride,_ Delilah thought.

Delilah worried for no reason. The boys were actually quite funny and made the otherwise boring trip quite entertaining. They showed them a spell to change the colors of their hair and before they could even see the castle, they all had different colored hair. Their hair color was wearing off by the time they first glimpsed the castle and they looked around in awe at how big and beautiful it was.

In order to reach the castle, they had to travel over a long stone bridge that crossed high over a deep crevasse. At the bottom, there was a river that seemed to be writhing with creatures. The castle itself consisted of several large towers of various sizes. Before they could finally reach it, they had to pass through a big steel gate in a large wall surrounding the inner grounds. All of the walls were made out of gleaming white stones and each tower was topped by dark green points to blend in with the surrounding trees.

The carriage stopped just out front of the main entry and waited as the four of them got out. They gathered with the rest of the students waiting on the stairs leading up to the large entry doors. On either side of the doors was a statue. One of a woman and the other of a man. As the last student joined the crowd, Professor Lovejoy walked up to the the grand doors and opened them. Before he allowed anyone to walk inside he said, "Now remember when we get into the entry, hand off your pets, and then line up along the walls."

He then turned around and walked inside, the students following him in precariously in awe at what they saw inside. It was magnificent! It was a large round room that was currently lined with what must be the staff, Professor Lovejoy among them. The walls were bare, except 4 wooden plaques with the same creature symbols that were on the sails of the ship. One of the creatures depicted on the plaques resembled one that was now standing with the other staff. He looked kind of like a goblin, except he was gray, not brown/green, a bit taller, and much wider. He did look rather old though with wrinkled skin and no hair on his head. The one on the plaque at least had a little bit of hair.

"Thats William. He's head of the Pukwudgie house as well as being a Pukwudgie himself," Sam explained when she saw the confused look on her face. "They are distant relatives of the goblins. They too are not too fond of humans. Not sure why he is employed here. From what my brother told me, he's not very nice."

Looking around the room again she saw that about halfway up the walls, there was a wooden walkway lined with students. It must have been accessed from the two doors on one side of the room, as there were no stairs or ladders to it. Then above that, instead of a ceiling, it was just a glass dome. Through it they could now see that the sky was painted with the warm colors of the sunset. Along one wall there was a set of grand staircases that lead off into different directions. Just at the bottom of the stairs were small bodied goblins with large eyes and big pointy ears. They kind of looked like the goblins and pukwudgies, except they were much smaller, cute, and not at all scary. They were very polite and bowed before taking Luna's cage. They told her Luna would be brought to the owlery to be with the other owls and that the cage would be brought to her room once she was sorted.

"Those are elves. They pretty much run everything behind the scenes here like laundry, cooking, cleaning, et cetera, et cetera" Sam said. "There are other pukwudgies here too. They handle the security detail like wall watch and door guard. Kind of a perfect job for them seeing as how grumpy and a stickler for rules they are."

While all the pets and carriers were being handed off, the students slowly started to line up along the wall. Once they were done, a silence filled the room as they gazed upon the adults lining the opposite wall. The oldest looking man standing in the center of them all stepped forward. He was dressed in long deep blue robes that had faint yellow stars forming various constellations. He also wore a matching pointed hat that was bent near the top. His hair and beard were long and black with only a few strands of silver intermingled. He had a welcoming smile that reached his crystal blue eyes. His face was still smooth and free of any wrinkles, but he had a scar running down the left side of his face. As he cleared his throat, the room fell silent again.

"Hello, my name is Headmaster Agilbert Fontaine. I am pleased to welcome all of you, new and returning students, to Ilvermorny, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. May your journey here bring you much knowledge and joy. We will now begin the sorting process. Professor Hindamon, if you would please," he said as he stepped back.

An older looking woman approached the center of the room with a scroll in hand. She was tall and frail looking with with light mostly grey hair tied in a bun and pale grey eyes. She opened the scroll and said, "Anderson, James."

"That's the Head of House for the Horned Serpents," Sam explained softly. "She's pretty strict."

A confident looking boy a few spots down stepped forward and walked up to the woman. She directed him to stand in the middle of the room, in the center of a large circle. Within the large circle was another smaller circle upon which he was now standing. It contained the symbol that was pressed into the wax seal of their welcoming envelope. The rest of the circle was divided into 4 equal parts, each with the same symbols as the plaques on the wall. Once he was there, the center circle started to glow.

"Where you stand now is on the Gordian Knot. It symbolizes our school, Ilvermorny. With it's glow, the school welcomes you. We now await the houses of Ilvermorny to decide which would like to extend an invitation to you for their house."

As if they were waiting for her to finish, 2 squares on the floor sprung into action as soon as she finished her sentence. The bird flapped its wings and the cat roared.

"Thunderbirds, soul of Ilvermorny, home of the adventurers and Wampus, body of Ilvermorny, home of warriors both extend an invitation to you. Which house do you chose?" Professor Hindamon said as two different sections of the students on the upper level started shouting "Go for Wampus!" and "Thunderbirds is where its at!"

"I chose Wampus!" James said as the Wampus roared again and the Wampus students cheered. James smiled largely and then returned to his spot along the wall.

"Bette, Sam," the Professor called next.

Sam stepped forward and smiled at Delilah before walking over to the circle. It glowed as she came to a stop. After a few moments, the red gem on the snake's head glowed and the Pukwudgie raised its arrow.

"Horned Serpent, mind of Ilvermorny, home of the scholars, and Pukwudgie, heart of Ilvermorny, home of the healers both extend an invitation to you. Which do you choose?"

Both houses began chanting for her to chose their house. Sam paused in deep thought for a moment. "Horned Serpents!" she squealed when she made up her mind and returned to her spot, the Horned Serpents cheering her on.

They went through most of the rest of the students, each being offered between 1-3 houses, all being cheered for when they made their choice. Professor Hindamon repeated her speech each time a student went up there and it was starting to get boring.

"Scamander, Lorcan," Professor Hindamon said.

One of the twins started for the center, turning to look back and smiling at the three of them, giving them a thumbs up. Once he reached the center circle, it lit up, welcoming him. After a few long moments, three circles reacted, the Horned Serpent, the Wampus, and the Thunderbird. All three houses cheered.

Before the professor could start her speech he shouted, "Horned Serpent" before triumphantly returning to his spot with the cheers of the Horned Serpents students.

"Scamander, Lysander," she said, though he was already on his way to the circle, having given his brother a rough pat on the back. When the same options presented themselves to him as well, he repeated Lorcans performance by making his choice before the speech, and returning to his spot, cheers emanating from the Horned Serpents.

Erica Smith was next and she went to Thunderbirds. Following her was Christopher Snoberry who chose Pukwudgie.

"Steward, Delilah," the Professor said, causing Delilahs heart to start beating hard and fast against her ribcage. Sam gave her a nudge to get her to start walking towards the center. She slowly made her way there but sped up once Sam, Lorcan, and Lysander cheered her on, embarrassing her in the process. By the time she reached the center circle, her whole face was red. She took a deep breath as she looked down to see the center circle light up. After what seemed like forever (which was really the longest the houses had taken) all four of the squares reacted. The hall was more quiet than before the Headmaster's speech. It seemed like everyone was holding their breath. Then only sound that was heard was a few gasps and a few whisperings.

" _How is that even possible?"_

" _Does that ever happen?"_

" _All four of them?"_

"This is a rare occasion indeed," the Headmaster said, silencing all of the murmurs. "Only on one other occasion in the entire history of Ilvermorny has a student been offered invitations to all houses. Seraphina Picquery is the only other one. You have now been presented with your options. Which house do you chose?"

She looked down to the tiles at her feet. ' _Which do I choose? Sure I'm ready for any adventure thrown my way, but I don't usually initiate them, so maybe I wouldn't do good in Thunderbird. I am willing to defend those who I love, but I don't really do good with confrontation so I'm probably not really the warrior Wampus is looking for. I like to help people but I'm not really too good with dealing with the sick and bleeding, so I can't be a Pukwudgie. I have always loved reading and learning new things. I don't really see any reason why I shouldn't be in the Horned Serpent. Plus all my friends are already in that house'_ She thought.

"Horned Serpent," she declared as the house erupted with hollers and applause, all of them beyond excited to be chosen on such a momentous occasion. She blushed again as she returned to her spot along the wall, being pat on the back and arm by Lorcan and Lysander as she passed them and received a big hug from Sam once she reached her spot.

Finally the cheers quieted and they finished up the remainder of the students on the list. Once everyone was sorted the Headmaster returned to the center of the circle. "And now we feast," he said as he waved his wand and the big doors on the opposite side of the stairs opened revealing what looked like a dining hall with long tables lining the walls, two per side. Stairs on either side of the door allowed the students from the upper floor to enter the hall and they all sat at their appropriate tables, the walls behind the tables containing a banner for each house. There was a table at the front of the room that the teachers and staff then filled. The first years excitedly joined their new houses and once everyone was seated, platters upon platters of food appeared on the table.

"Oh Merlin am I hungry! I haven't eaten since breakfast" Lysander exclaimed next to Delilah, piling food on his plate. The twins were sitting on one side of her, Lorcan on the other side of Lysander and Sam was sitting on her other side.

"I told you to get a snack on the boat, but nooo. You didn't want to listen to me!" Lorcan mocked, piling food on his plate as well.

"I thought they were going to be serving lunch!" Lysander said through a mouthful of food. Lysander looked like a chipmunk and he noticed everyone was staring at him.

"Wut?" he said, mouth still shoved full of food.

Everyone just shook their heads and returned to eating. Once everyone was done with the delicious three course meal including a dessert buffet, the table was magically cleared of dishes. Everyone turned to the front as the Headmaster stood again.

"One final announcement. First years, if you would please take a look over your heads. As you see, the ceiling is divided into 4 sections above your tables. This is where we will be keeping tally of your house points. Get good grades or make good choices," he said waving his wand, making stars appear, creating constellations, "and you will earn your house stars. Get bad grades or make bad choices and they disappear" waving his wand to make the stars disappear. "The house with the most points at the end of the year will win a prize. We will now ask that you all retire to your chambers to get a good night's rest. First years, follow your Heads of Houses. They will direct you to your common rooms and show where your chambers are located. We have a busy and early day ahead of us tomorrow, so please get a good night's sleep everyone, and once again, welcome to Ilvermorny."

The headmaster bowed as most of the staff stood up and followed him through a door to the right of their table, four of them remaining. Professor Lovejoy and Professor Hindamon remained with Willam and another younger, beautiful, silvery blonde haired woman who must have been the Thunderbird's head of house.

"The last Head of House is Miss Lainey Dugood. She is part Veela and also the head nurse here at Ilvermorny. She is really sweet my brother tells me. I think he had a crush on her though, since I'm pretty sure that is the only reason he went with Thunderbird. That and the fact that he kept getting himself in situations to be sent to the nurses ward or her head master's office," Sam said. Knowing she was about to ask what a Veela was, she continued, "Veelas are a breed of humans that are very beautiful and seem to attract the attention of others, in case you happened to not have noticed her beauty or the way most of the boys are drooling over her. Their most notable attribute is their very pale blonde hair. They are also heard to have the strong ability of persuasion."

She had remembered seeing one before at the Harvest Moon. Delilah laughed as a few of the older boys plucked up the courage to go talk to her, seeming lovestruck as she left them behind, going to gather her First Years. The other First year students gathered with their appropriate Heads of Houses and followed them out the doors to the entry hall. Once on the stairways leading off the entry hall, each Head went up or down a separate staircase leading to a different tower in each corner of the castle.

Walking through the castle following Professor Hindamon, she noticed the walls were lined with paintings. Most were portraits, but some were just scenes like beaches, mountains, and the like. They were all moving and she watched as a couple of the people in the portraits traveled between frames to go speak to the other subjects, or just to go relax in another scene. Some of them were whispering between each other about her. They were stating their surprise that she had been given all four of the invitations and trying to figure out what family line she came from, or who she was related to. She really couldn't understand everything that they were saying but caught on to enough of it to get the idea. She really couldn't stand to be the center of attention, she lowered her head and avoided eye contact with everyone.

Lorcan and Lysander managed to catch up to them. Lysander squeezed between the girls and wrapped his arms arms around Delilah and Sam's shoulders, Lorcan walking backwards ahead of them.

"Don't worry about those schmucks. They are just jealous they didn't get all of the invitations like you did," Lysander chuckled, sticking his tongue out at the frames that were disgruntled by his apparently accurate description.

"Not everyone can be a superstar like our dear Delilah here," Lorcan said with a smile.

Delilah blushed at all the attention. She kept her eyes down and watched her feet as she walked avoiding eye contact. She shrugged a bit mumbling about being nothing special.

"Alright guys, lay off. Can't you see you're making her uncomfortable?" Sam said giving Lysander a small shove so he had to release the girls. "Be nice to the poor girl."

"You're right," Lysander said with a smile. "If she turns any more red, she may just turn into a tomato."

That won him a rough slap on the arm from Sam, "I mean it, knock it off."

"Ok, ok!" Lysander replied, feigning injury. "After your vicious attack I may just have to go visit Miss Dugood."

"Uh huh, sure that's why you wanna go see her," Lorcan kidded with his brother.

"You just want her to _**check you out**_ _!"_ laughed Sam.

Lysander pretended to be embarrassed, but it was obvious he was used to the jokes. He just shook his head and laughed as he gave her a pointed look. Thankful that the attention was now off of her, she turned to see where they were going. Professor Hindmon was approaching a portrait of none other than Einstein himself.

"Goood evening Provezzor Hindamon. Vat eez zee equazzion of schpezzel-releteevity?" Einstein asked the professor, rolling his R's.

"That's an easy one. E=mc2" She responded with a smile. "Next time you should pick something you didn't come up with."

"Zat eez fair," he said swinging open to reveal an opening behind his painting. "Neext time I moozt chooze a deeficult queztion for zee breeliant provezzor."

Once through the opening, Delilah was beyond excited at what she saw inside. All of the walls were covered in bookshelves, lined with books of various sizes and age. At either end of the room, there were two huge fireplaces surrounded by the comfiest looking couches, a door next to each of them. Carved into the walls every ten feet or so were alcoves that appeared to be reading nooks, each with its own window, wide window seat with tons of pillows. Within the nooks, the walls were lined with bookshelves as well as their own small moveable desks. Various styles of seats were found around the room including bean bags, rocking chairs, and even a couple hammocks. A few of the older students were already in there, just hanging out doing various activities.

It was like walking into her own personal heaven. She could not believe she was going to be living here for the next 7 years. It was everything she could ever ask for. Add in the fact that she already had 3 friends in her house and she knew she was set. She was beyond excited to see what the next handful of years would bring her.

"First years have the first floor. Girls through the door on the left, boys the right. I know this is all very exciting but I encourage you to get a good night's rest. You'll thank me at the end of day tomorrow," Professor Hindamon said with a smile before backing out of the portrait, leaving the students to explore their new home.

"Let's go get first dibs on the beds!" Sam said running for the door on the left, not even waiting for Delilah.

She chased after her up a flight of stairs that wound around like a stone spiral staircase. Once on the first floor, she saw the open door was labeled _**First Years**_ and she stepped inside to find four comfy looking four poster beds overflowing with various pillows and blankets lining one wall. The other lined with four desks that each had their own mirror and padded seats. She assumed these would double as desks as well as vanities. Between each if the outer desks was an alcoved window with its own curtained extra wide window seat and it overlooked the lake the ship was now settled in. Within each alcove, there were fuzzy pillows and an empty bookshelf on either side. In the middle of the two center desks, in the center, was a large full length mirror. The room was lit by two large beautiful candle lit crystal chandeliers that seemed to hover just below the tall ceilings. At the end of the room there was an open doorway, leading into what appeared to be a bathroom. It was perfect.

"Which ones should we take?" Sam said, exiting the bathroom after taking a peek. "How about the middle two? That way we aren't right next to the door to the hallway or the door to the bathroom."

"Sounds good to me," Delilah said approvingly. As soon as they agreed, both of their trunks magically appeared at the foot of their beds.

"Looks like this one is mine," she said jumping into the one closer to the bathroom.

It was so soft and welcoming. She almost didn't want to get up, but she knew she should unpack her trunk so her clothes wouldn't be wrinkled. She did like to make sure to be organized as well, so she hopped out of bed and get to her unpacking, starting with putting her clothes in the closet that was next to the door. It was shaped like a diamond so each girl would have their own wall. It must have been done by magic, because there was no way a room that size would fit where it was located. Floating just below the ceiling in the center of the room, there was a smaller version of the candle lit crystal chandeliers that were in the room. At the opposite end of the closet, there was a tri-fold full length mirror and a small fluffy looking bench chair. Each wall was filled with built in shelves and rails to hang clothes on. There was plenty of space for all of her clothes. She chose the wall closest to the mirror on the left and started organizing her clothes and shoes.

Once she was done with that, she grabbed her bathroom items and headed into the bathroom. Sam had still not gotten back out of her bed, she was busy arranging her pillows in a way that suited her. Once in the bathroom she was in shock. There was a deep jetted tub next to a large window overlooking the forest with its own curtain that could be pulled closed for privacy. There was also a walk in rainfall shower with more sprayer heads than she could ever imagine using, the walls surrounding it giving more than enough privacy. On the wall closest to the bedroom, there was four sinks, each with their own mirror, counter space, and drawers underneath. They each had their own towel ring, toothbrush holder, cup, and soap dispenser. At the end of the room, two doors lead to what she assumed was the toilets. She placed her stuff on the sink in the middle on the left. _Might as well follow a trend_ she thought to herself.

Looking around the room again she noticed that next to the tub, there was a large shelf full of various sized and colored bottles. Some of them had droppers, some without, and a few full of crystals. She picked one up that full of a thick pink liquid that had a dropper. She opened it to smell it and it smelled like roses. She came to the conclusion that they must be bath oils, soaps, and salts. On the wall behind the door there was four built in shelves containing towels of various sizes, candles, and various bathroom products. Hanging on the back side of the door were four fluffy bathrobes, each on their own hook. Man were they getting the royalty treatment. She just knew this was going to be the best 7 years of her life.

Once she walked back into the bedroom she grabbed her hair stuff out of her trunk and turned to lay them on her vanity. She then saw that Luna's cage was hanging from the ceiling right next to it, Luna currently occupying it with the door open, snoozing on her perch.

"She flew in when I opened one of the windows while you were in the bathroom. Gave me quite a shock," she said with laugh. "I never did ask, what's her name?"

"Luna," Delilah said as Luna opened her eyes to the sound of her name and cooed. She gave her a soft caress and returned to her trunk to grab Luna's treats and toys. She gave her a treat before putting all of her stuff in bottom drawer in her vanity. "If you ever want to give her a treat or play with her, this will be where her stuff is."

She continued to put her hair stuff in the drawers and found a gold fastener in the shape of the Gordian Knot. She turned and showed Sam, "Hey, here's those fasteners the supply list mentioned."

Noticing that Sam was playing with a little black fur ball that must be her kitten she asked, "What's her name?"

"Lucky, figured it would be ironic," she said with a chuckle. "Her stuff is here in my bedside table, bottom drawer."

Two other girls walked in the door then, smiling and introducing themselves.

"Im Carrie," the short blonde one said. She was dressed in a flowery summer dress and strappy sandals.

"I'm Gina," the taller strawberry blonde said. She wore a long skirt and sparkly shirt.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Delilah and that there is Sam," she introduced since she was closest, Sam waving from her bed. "You guys must be our other roommates."

"Yeah! Nice to meet you guys," Gina said with a smile. "I see Sam has claimed that bed, yours is the other one with the trunk?"

"Yeah, early bird gets the worm," Sam chuckled in response. She got up to start staking her claim on her space in the closet and bathroom, and seeing the trend Delilah had started, went with the middle right side of everything.

"That's OK, I prefer to be closest to the bathroom if that works for you," Gina said turning to Carrie.

"I'm not picky," Carrie said with a smile.

Again as the decision was made, the other two trunks appeared at the foot of the respective beds. They set about unpacking their belongings as well. Gina must have had an owl as well because a pretty copper cage appeared next to the vanity closest to the bathroom.

"You have an owl too, huh?" Delilah asked, pointing to the cage that had just appeared.

"Yeah, she looks like yours but is a copper red," Gina responded. "Her name is Penny."

At that point a tiny calico kitten rubbed up against Delilah leg. "This one must be yours then?"

"Yeah her name is Cookie," Carrie said. "You know, since it looks like there is a cookie on her back."

She was right. It did look like a large chocolate chip cookie had landed on her back. At that point, Lucky had hopped off the bed and the two were playing right away.

"Looks like they are already best friends," Delilah said delightfully. "How adorable."

She then turned back to her trunk and grabbed her books out of there. On top of her textbooks, she had brought a few of her favorite books and a few she had yet to read from her house. She lined them up in the bookshelf on her side of the alcove next to her vanity and was able to fill it half way. She returned to her trunk and grabbed her quills, ink, and scrolls. She put them in the top drawer of her vanity/desk. Lastly, she pulled out her wand, candy stash, the snow globe Lia had gotten her, and the two pictures she brought with her. One was of her and her parents, the other of her and Lia. She missed all of them already. She put the pictures and snow globe on top of her nightstand, her wand in the top drawer of her nightstand, still inside her box, and her candy in the bigger bottom drawer.

Now that she felt like she had unpacked all that she could she flopped down on the bed. Looking up she saw that the inside of the top of her bed was enchanted to twinkle like stars and that there was a small light just above her headboard, perfect for late night reading. She tested the curtains to her bed and pulled them closed tight. She was satisfied that it would block out all of the light and even all of the sound outside her bed. That must have been an enchantment as well. Either way she knew she would be getting some good sleep between the curtains and the comfiness of the bed. She opened her curtains again, brushed her teeth, and grabbed a book off the bookshelf. She said goodnight to the other girls in the room before retreating back into the confines of her curtained bed. She snuggled down deep into all the pillows and blankets getting super comfortable. She began reading her book until she was too sleepy to read another word, put her book on her nightstand, and fell asleep.


	7. Orientation

Delilah woke up bright and early the next morning, feeling well rested. She parted her curtains and took a look out of one of the windows. It was going to be a beautiful day. The sun was shining and there were only a couple of fluffy white clouds drifting through the sky. She said good morning to Luna and gave her a treat, stroking her feathers. Opening the window, she allowed Luna to fly off, most likely to the owlery for some breakfast. She sat down in the window seat and listened to the birds chirping, taking in the fresh morning air. It was still quiet on the grounds, no one was really up yet. This was her favorite time of day. All was peaceful for a moment and she could pretend that she was alone.

Not long after, Sam woke up, looking a bit groggy and her hair all a mess. She didn't seem to be quite the morning person Delilah was. Mumbling a good morning, she lazily waved at Delilah before dragging her feet into the bathroom for a shower. Delilah decided she should probably start getting ready too since her stomach was starting grumble at her too. She brushed her hair, got dressed for the day, and brushed her teeth. She wasn't sure if she would need her robes today so she attached the fastener to them, folded them neatly, and left them on top of her closed trunk in case she had to hurry back for them. At this point, Sam had emerged from the bathroom, looking back to her normal self.

"Man that shower is amazing! Talk about magic! I feel like a whole new person!" she said, lazily stretching.

"You look like a whole new person! I could have sworn you were a zombie when you got out of bed!" Delilah joked while blocking the pillow thrown at her. "They must really be magic. You actually look human now."

"Ha ha ha. Ready for some food?" Sam said, practically drooling. "I'm so starving I may just eat your brains!"

Carrie and Gina were still sleeping, so they headed down to the common room. While passing through, she noticed only one other person was in there, a young looking boy, who appeared to be a first year as well. It looked like he was writing a letter, seeing as how there was an owl sitting in the windowsill next to him and an open scroll laying next to the one he was currently writing on. That reminded Delilah that she should write a letter to send back home to her parents and Lia. Vowing to get to that later, they exited the portrait hole and went downstairs to the dining hall, Einstein saying "zee vou lata alleegata!" to their retreating backs.

Entering the dining hall, she noticed that not a lot of people were up yet. There were only a couple people at each table, and the teachers table was mostly empty, except William. He was keeping a stern eye on the students currently eating, ever vigilant seeking the hooligans. There were only two people seated at the Horned Serpents table, Lorcan and Lysander. They were busy joking with each other with their mouths stuffed full of food, a pile on each of their plates. There was food of all kinds spread across the table, just about anything you could imagine. The girls sat down next to the boys and started filling their own plates.

"Mornin!" Lysander said, mouth still full of food, spitting crumbs all over the table in front of him. "howbd you guys seep?"

"Very well thank you," Delilah said sitting down and checking out the various choices for breakfast, ignoring the crumbs he just spit across the table.

"Yeah I slept better than I have in ages!" Sam exclaimed, grimacing at Lysander. "But can you not talk with your mouth full of food. You're spitting it everywhere. Talk about disgusting."

Lorcan swallowed his food before saying, "Yeah dude, where's your manners."

Lysander just responded with a smile. "I wonder what we're doing today?" he said, thankfully with an empty mouth.

"The first day is orientation. They hand out the schedules and take you on a tour so you know where your classes are. Then the rest of the day is open for us to explore," Sam told them.

They continued to eat their breakfast, chatting amongst themselves, as more students and teachers joined them. Once everyone had their fill, the plates again disappeared. The Headmaster stood, silencing the room, and a stack of scrolls appeared before each head of house.

"Today will be, for the most part, one of leisure. First and foremost, your head of houses will hand out your schedules for the year. At this point, second years and up are welcome to do as they please, first years will be taken on a tour of the property. Once the tours are finished, first years will be allowed to join the others as well. Enjoy your first day here, for as of tomorrow, classes will be in session."

The students began to line up in front of each of the head of houses to collect their schedules. The first year's sitting back down at the tables to wait for the lines to be gone through and the others leaving the dining hall to enjoy a day of leisure, some ventured outside to enjoy the sunshine, others into the castle. Getting her schedule, Delilah gave it a look over.

 **Time Of Day**

 **Mon**

 **Tue**

 **Wed**

 **Thurs**

 **Fri**

 **Morning**

 **9:00-11:00**

Potions

History of Magic

Potions

History of Magic

Defence against dark arts

(Class)

 **Early Afternoon**

 **11:30-1:30**

Potions

Trans- figurations

Potions

Trans- figurations

Defence against dark arts (Application)

 **Late Afternoon**

 **2:30-4:30**

Care of Magical Creatures

Trans- figurations

Herbology

Trans- figurations

Astrology

(Class)

 **Evening**

 **6:30-TBD***

Care of Magical Creatures

(FREE STUDY PERIOD)

Herbology

(FREE STUDY PERIOD)

Astrology

(Application)

*End time of class to be determined by Teacher

Groaning at how full her schedule was, she turned to compare her schedule with the other three. Luckily they were all in the same classes. "They put all the students from the same year into the same classes, probably to make it easier on all of them so they could form study groups if necessary," Sam explained. "Plus that way there will be at least one strong house from each class so they can help tutor if needed."

"Or so only one of us has to take notes, IE you girls, so the rest of us don't have to take notes!" Lysander joked.

"Ha ha, I'm not letting you anywhere near my notes!" Sam responded, laughing at him.

"Speak for yourself. Go ahead and not take notes, it's not my grades that'll be tanking!" Lorcan said to his brother.

"I'll just pretend to be you! That way I won't fail and you will!" he laughed.

"Oh geeze, like that would ever work," Delilah laughed.

Once all the schedules were handed out, the heads gathered their first years and began their tour. Each of them leading their groups in a separate direction so as to not have to speak over each other or crowd the hallways. Professor Hindamon wound through the never ending corridors showing them various classrooms including an observatory where they would be taking astrology, a classroom with stadium seating for history of magic, and a standard style classroom for transfiguration. Next she showed them a large classroom that was half full of desks and the other half just an open floor that would be used for defence against the dark arts. There were targets painted on the wall and dummies lining the far wall, both looking a bit destroyed. Last, she took them down to a dungeon style room for potions. It was dark and dank down there, with no windows, desks lined up in the center of the room, and cabinets full of bottles and tools lining three of the walls, the last wall covered in a large blackboard.

They then headed outside where she showed them the greenhouses full of odd looking plants (some of which had faces) for herbology. Just outside the greenhouse there was a large tree, which the professor noted was a producer of a rare ingredient for medicinal properties. She also stated that it was to never be touched by students without teacher supervision, as it was poisonous if not handled correctly. She then led them to the large barn that was near the forest and was used for care of Magical Creatures. There were so many different types of creatures in pens and cages in there. Delilah couldn't wait to be able to spend time with them. She always loved animals. Once the tour was complete, the professor handed a map to each of the students since they were still likely to get lost within the maze that is Ilvermorny.

"Alright, a few ground rules before I set you free. William has compiled a list of restricted items he keeps posted on the door to his office, it is the door we passed leaving the entry hall. Also, the forest and anything beyond the ground's walls, as well as the wall itself, is off limits to any students not accompanied by a teacher or staff member. Any part of the dungeon, other than the Potions classroom, is off limits as well. Last but not least, no student is allowed to fly on a broomstick before taking flying lessons, regardless if you have flown before or not. Those lessons will be offered periodically throughout the school year. Any questions?"

A girl from another house raised her hand. She was tall and slim, with an athletic build. "Are we able to swim in the lake?" She must be a swimmer.

"As long as you are accompanied by another person, be it student or staff. The lake is not empty though so be prepared if you do, wands with you at all times. Last thing we need is a student drowning in the lake," the professor said sternly. "Any other questions? No? Alright then. I'll leave you to enjoy your day of leisure. I'll see you all at supper."

"What should we do first?" Delilah asked. It was about midday by this point and they had been walking for hours.

"LUNCH!" the three others responded in unison.

After filling their bellies, they had decided to set out to explore the grounds since it was such a beautiful day. They had found some picnic benches just off the lake under some trees and were hanging out chatting. Something in the water caught Delilah's attention. When she looked out at the water, she saw what looked like the upper half of a woman, floating lazily in the water, soaking up the sunshine.

"Hey guys! Check that out! There's a woman in the water!" Delilah shouted. Upon hearing this, the woman disappeared below the surface, the others only catching a flipper disappearing under the water. "I think I just saw a mermaid!"

"My brother told me about those," Sam said. "He says there's all kinds of things in that lake. He was even convinced he saw the loch Ness monster in there too."

"No way!" Lorcan and Lysander exclaimed in unison.

"That's so crazy!" Delilah said staring out into the water. "I just had a dream I was swimming with mermaids the other night! Talk about deja vu!"

They spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the property and all over the castle before ending up back in the dining hall for dinner. After eating their fill, they retired back to the common room. They were hanging out in one of the cozy areas by the fire just relaxing and talking about all they had seen that day.

"Have you guys ever played Exploding Snap?" Lorcan asked the girls.

"What's that?" Sam asked, leaving Delilah feeling relieved that she wasn't the only one who didn't know something again.

"It's an exciting card game where the cards occasionally explode!" Lysander said. "We gotta deck, we can teach you! We'll go grab it!"

Both the boys went up to grab the cards and the girls went up to change into some comfortable clothes. While they were up there, Delilah grabbed some of her candy to share with everyone. They then spent the rest of the evening playing Exploding Snap and eating candy. At one point, the others from their year, Gina, Carrie, Fred, Jack and Dominic, joined in on their game. By the end of the night, the girls were beating the boys. It was starting to get late so the girls said goodnight to the boys and retreated to their dorm room before the guys started getting mad that they kept losing.

As she was getting ready for bed, she thought of the boy from this morning before breakfast when she remembered! _The letter!_ She forgot to write to her parents and Lia! She jumped out of bed and ran over to her desk. Thankfully Luna was in her cage, playing with one of the toys she had fastened in there. She gave her a quick pet before grabbing her ink, quill, and scrolls and sitting down to write her letters. She would write one for her parents and a separate one for Lia.

 _ **Dear Mom and Dad,**_

 _ **It is amazing here! We flew in on that ship. Yes, you read that right! The ship FLEW to Ilvermorny. THEN THERE WERE UNICORNS PULLING US TO THE CASTLE IN CARRIAGES! I am being serious, actual white, shimmery, flying, magical unicorns, horns and all. It's really is quite magnificent here. There's different tower for each of the houses and even one for an observatory! There is also a greenhouse full of plants I've never seen before and a barn full of**_ _ **all kinds**_ _**of magical creatures. There's even a lake with mermaids in it! Rumor has it the Loch Ness Monster is in there too!**_

 _ **Dad, you were right. There is more than enough food here to fill me up. Talk about a feast for every meal! That's not even the best part! The dorms here are amazing! I share a room with 3 other girls. We each have our own four poster bed and vanity/desk. Luna can stay in our room at night too if she likes. I kinda just let her do what she wants though.**_

 _ **And don't get me started on the common room! There are so many books in there! All of the walls are covered in bookshelves, all full of books. It's like our common room was made for studying too. There's all these study nooks to do work in and so many comfy seats by the fireplace. It's like a dream come true!**_

 _ **Speaking of amazing, our bathrooms are to die for! They even have a jetted tub and a shower with so many sprayers! I haven't had a chance to try them out yet but Sam says the shower is to die for. I'm really looking forward to trying out the bath. They supply us with all kinds of soaps, oils, and salts, it's like our own personal spa.**_

 _ **Sam is the first friend I made since getting here. I actually met her in the ship on the way in, we were cabin mates. She is so nice and funny! I hope some day you get to meet her! We're in the same house, are in the same classes and we even get to share a room!**_

 _ **Oh yeah that reminds me! The sorting ceremony is really quite cool. They have you stand in the middle of this circle thing that lights up to welcome you to the school and then these squares invite you into the different houses. If more than one invites you, you get to choose.**_

 _ **You'll never believe it but I got invitations to all of the houses! The headmaster said that's only happened one other time! I ended up picking the Horned Serpents, "mind of Ilvermorny, house of knowledge." I chose that one since the others didn't make any sense for me to join. The other options were Pukwudgie, "heart of Ilvermorny, home of the healers"; Thunderbirds, "soul of Ilvermorny, home of the adventurers"; and Wampus, "body of Ilvermorny, home of warriors." As you can tell, I wouldn't really fit into any of those houses.**_

 _ **We haven't started classes yet but they did give us a full tour of the castle and grounds. Classes start tomorrow. First up will be double period Potions. I can't wait to get started!**_

 _ **Well I gotta write a letter to Lia too, do you mind sharing your letter with her so I don't have to rewrite all of this for her too? It would take me all night to finish if I had to!**_

 _ **Love and miss you bunches!**_

 _ **Delilah xoxo**_

 _ **Lia,**_

 _ **I miss you so much! I can't believe it's only been a day since I last saw you! I wish you could be here with me! I just know you would love it here! I hope my parents shared their letter with you, a lot has gone on and I think my arm would fall off if I had to copy it all down for you too. It really is spectacular here.**_

 _ **I wonder which house you would have been sorted into? I'm sure you would have gotten most if not all of the invitations. I think you would fit best in the Thunderbirds since you're so adventurous. Not that you wouldn't do good in the Horned Serpents. You are just as smart as I am, I just see you as more of an adventurer or Warrior. It would suck if you were in a different house though, we might not be able to see each other as much. I guess it would be better than how little I will get to see you as it is.**_

 _ **You would be in heaven seeing the spread they have here for us for meals. There is literally something for every taste, all meals, every day. It all tastes so delicious!**_

 _ **Well I hope the rest of your summer is going great! I can't wait till I can see you! Well it's getting late, I better wrap this up.**_

 _ **Love and miss you!**_

 _ **Delilah.**_


	8. The First Day of School

_**FIRST DAY OF CLASSES! WOO HOO!**_ was the first thing Delilah thought when she woke up the next morning. It was a beautiful day, and it was her first day of wizarding school. She wasn't able to sleep the night before, but that didn't matter. She wasn't tired. _She was starting classes today._ She opened her curtains, the sun was just starting to rise, the sky filling with pink and orange. She jumped out of bed, hopped in the shower, and got ready for her day. She grabbed her school robe, hat, potions book, and class supplies. She picked up her bag and headed out of the dorm. She was ready to go before anyone else in the tower was even up. Since no one was in the common room, she went downstairs. It was quiet heading to the dining hall, she had only passed one other student, they must all be sleeping. She got to the hall before the food had even reached the tables. She pulled out her book and started studying it since she didn't have anything else to do, might as well start now. People started coming in for breakfast, and not long after, the food appeared. It was a good thing too, she was starving, so she she put her book away and started eating.

The first half of the day was Potions and she had been looking forward to it all night. She had done a bit of chemistry when she was going to No-Maj school and had done really good. Granted, it had just been easy, fun stuff like creating blocks of dry ice, making rock candy, tie dying shirts, and making ice cream using salt and ice, but she was the top student in her class every time.

She had already taken a peek at the book this morning before breakfast and was already intrigued. This was most certainly going to be much harder, but she was excited for it all the same. She was pondering which potion they would be learning today as she was walking in the classroom with Samantha and the twins. She absent mindedly walked up to the desk that was front and center, as she was used to doing. It was the best seat to be able to see everything and was where she usually sat.

"We are not sitting at that table," all three of them said at the same time, both the twins laughing, saying "Jinx, you owe me a butterbeer" at the same time, and then laughing again.

"I swear, how old are you guys? Three?" Delilah said jokingly. "Where do you want to sit then?"

"Axtuwawy we awr two in a haff," Lysander said, trying to sound like a baby, crossing his arms and sticking his nose in the air. "Why not the one in the back? That way we are away from the watchful eye of the teacher."

"I will not be sitting in the back," both Delilah and Lorcan said at the same time. "And if you say Jinx, I swear I will jinx you for real!" Delilah said laughing.

"Fine let's sit in the middle," Samantha said picking the centermost table and sitting on one end. Delilah figured that was fair enough and sat down right next to her. As she was getting out her supplies, she saw boys of the both go for the one next to her out of the corner of her eye, Lysander getting to it first with a big grin on his face. Just as they were seated, Professor Hindamon started the class, going over the specific techniques they were going to be needing for today's potion. Today they were making a cure for boils. It wasn't too exciting of a potion but Delilah still couldn't wait to get started. She was having a hard time paying attention though because Lysander kept writing notes to her on the side of his scroll instead of taking notes on what the professor was saying.

 _ **Ly:You must have been up early this morning. You were down in the dining hall before we had even gotten up.**_

 _ **D:Yeah, I couldn't sleep. I was too excited.**_

 _ **Ly:Excited? For school? Are you serious?**_

 _ **D:Yeess...Why wouldn't I be?**_

 _ **Ly:Because its SCHOOL!**_

 _ **D:Yeah, but it's not like normal school, we get to learn really cool stuff here, just like this class. We actually get to make potions. Now let me pay attention, I just missed everything Hindamon just said!**_

 _ **Ly:It's not like we are learning how to make Felix Felicis. This potion is cake. I can probably do it in my sleep.**_

 _ **D:Felix Felicis? What's that?**_

 _ **Ly:It's otherwise known as liquid luck. The drinker becomes super lucky for a period of time. Now a potion like that can really be helpful.**_

At that point, Lorcan had set a piece of paper between them.

 _ **Lo:Will you two chatterboxes PAY ATTENTION?! I would really like to pass this class but we can't do that if half our group is**_ _ **NOT PAYING ATTENTION!**_

Lysander chuckled at the note and crinkled up both pages of notes. He pulled out a new sheet of parchment and started really focusing on what the Professor was saying. He only looked away once when he thought Lorcan wasn't looking and made a face at him. He returned his gaze to the blackboard quickly as Professor Hindamon started drawing a diagram of the proper way to wave your wand to finish the potion.

The hands on portion of Potions ended up being a nightmare. Sam and Lorcan refused to help since they had actually paid attention and took the notes the other two had been too distracted to take. Lysander kept getting the ingredients mixed up, but blamed it on Delilah's on bad directions. Part of Delilah agreed she might have been part of the problem. He kept making jokes and goofing off so she couldn't concentrate, and kept losing her place. Lysander was no good at following directions though, so she refused to take all the blame. Either way, their potion blew up in all of their faces. Lorcan and Sam tried to intervene where they could, but unfortunately, a few mistakes made it past their radar. Luckily they all had their eyebrows, and turned in a potion that at least somewhat resembled what it was supposed to look like. Professor Hindamon grimaced at the potion saying, "I would have expected better from students in my house. Please do us all a favor and try to pay better attention to my instructions at the beginning of class from now on."

The same could not be said for a table of Wampus students, they had singed all of the hair on their entire head. It had almost looked like their head itself had spontaneously combusted. Their potion was scrapped and they had to report to the healer's office so they could undo the damage. It was actually quite funny to witness, that is until theirs blew up not long after. After both of their potions exploded, Professor Hindamon started walking around the classroom, making sure the rest of the class didn't repeat the same mistakes they had. Before class was over, she announced that the class was to write a two foot essay on the proper process of preparing the cure for boils that they were to turn in at the next class. _Great, there went their first free period tomorrow._ Delilah hoped the rest of her classes didn't assign homework otherwise she wouldn't have any free time.

After class, they all ran up to the dorms to wash up and get their stuff for their next class before lunch, hurrying since it was going to take them forever to get out all the way out there and back. They all saw the students from the Wampus table, leaving the Healer's Ward looking halfway back to normal. They were still looking a bit singed and the four of them had to try real hard to suppress their laughs as they ran past. Well the girls did, the boys on the other hand didn't even try. The girls tried shushing them but in the end resorted to dragging them away as fast as they could. About 30 minutes later, they were just getting to the dining hall and they immediately began piling their plates full of food. They shoveled down what they could since they did not have a whole lot of time to eat something. It was going to take forever to walk all the way out to the barn for their Care of Magical Creatures class and they didn't want to be late.

Getting into the barn, there were a few tables set up with chairs in the center of the barn and a pushcart up at the front of the room. On it was a large clear tupperware bin, inside was what looked like giant brown slugs. Delilah threw up in her mouth a little bit, thinking about the fact that they were most likely going to have to touch those disgusting things. She couldn't believe a few students were getting a close look at the worms through the bin. Once everyone was there, the teacher cleared his throat, signaling that he was going to start class. As the students took their seats, Lorcan and Lysander made a point to sit at the table farthest from the front and the girls followed suit.

"Hello class, My name is Professor Scamander and I shall be your teacher for Care of Magical Creatures. Please take your seats. Today we will be learning about the Flobberworm and the ways in which they are useful to the wizarding world. Please take out your books, turn to page 17 in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and read the short excerpt on them. When you are all finished, I will be going over the proper way to handle them."

"Is that your guys' dad?" Delilah asked the twins quietly, recognizing that the twins had the same last name.

"Nah, that's my Uncle Josiah. Good catch though, especially from the no-Maj," Lysander said with a wink.

"Holy merlin, that means you guys are related to this guy then, huh?!" Sam said, pointing to the book they were supposed to be reading.

"Oh, um...well, yeah. He's our great grandfather," Lorcan responded shyly, blushing a little. "Most of our family is kind the magical equivalent to a zoologist. It makes for family dinners that are a hoot, and that's quite literal sometimes."

"Great grandpappy Newt sure knew how to turn up the heat at the parties. Remember when he brought the baby dragons to that thanksgiving dinner? Gee-gee Tina was so mad! They nearly torched the whole living room! She was always putting out his fires. It's a wonder how they survived to be 100!" Lysander said laughing.

"That's really cool!" Delilah said.

"Look at you two, you guys are practically celebrities!" Sam said, hitting them both playfully on the arm. "Oh man, should we be watching out for the paparazzi? Are they going to jump out of the Dugbog kennel?"

They all couldn't help but laugh at that one. This drew Professor Scamander's attention and he gave the twins a look that said _no funny business in my class young men._

"From the amount of conversations I am hearing, I take it everyone has already read what what was assigned. We shall move on then. Flobberworms are herbivores and as you read in your text, they prefer to eat lettuce, which is what we will be feeding them today. We will also be extracting some of the mucus from them for the Potions classroom. Although they are not poisonous to touch, they can have a rather displeasing handfeel to them, seeing as how they are slippery and slimy.

If you choose, take out your gloves and bring up a plastic bin from the shelves. While you are there, gather a bag of lettuce, two jars apiece, and one of the rubber scraping tools. Bring those items to your desk. Then bring your plastic bin to the front, gather your worm from this bin, and get started.

First you will be using your scraping tool to fill one jar of mucus from the Flobberworm. Next, you will feed them all of the lettuce in your bag. After they are done, they will start to produce mucus again, giving you the mucus needed to extract your final jar of mucus. Class is finished for you when you have filled both jars with mucus. Now gather your supplies and get started."

The class started lining up to gather their supplies and worms, the four of them together in the line. Delilah was starting to feel sick. In the rush to get to class on time, she had forgotten to grab her gloves. The numerous times that Professor Scamander had said the word _mucus_ hadn't helped either. Every time he said it, she imagined the feel of mucus all over her hands.

Noticing Delilah was looking a little sick, Sam turned to her and asked, "Are you ok? You are starting to look a little green. Do you need to go see a healer?"

"Uh, nah, I'll be fine. I just realized that I forgot to grab my gloves and the idea of having _mu-cus_ on my hands is making me feel nauseous," she said dry heaving a bit when she said mucus. "I don't know how I'm going to do this without them."

"Oh man, I'm in the same boat or I'd offer you my gloves," Sam said, looking guilty and sympathetic.

Lorcan didn't look at all bothered at the prospect of having to handle the slimy worms. He gladly handed over his gloves, "You can use mine, this is nothing. Try having to handle a Ghoul. We have one in our attic. Those things are gross, like giant balls of slime. This will be cake compared to that."

Lysander looked relieved, he had started to look a bit green himself. He shrugged apologetically and said, "Yeeaahh, I'm glad you're willing, I would have had to have agreed with Sam on this one, sorry Dee."

They gathered everything they needed to get started and got to work. Everything was going smoothly. They all filled their first jar rather quickly and had already started feeding them before everyone else was only half done. It was nice having Scamanders as friends in this class. They gave them the hint of gently milking the worms into the bin and using the scraper to get it into the jar from there. Everyone else had been using the scrapers to scrape the mucus off the worms. Since they were not really in anyone's line of sight, no one else really caught onto the trick. That is until one of the girls from that wampus table that had gotten singed during potions looked up to see how they were supposed to be feeding the worms.

She saw that they were already onto their second jar and pointed out what they were doing to the rest of her table. They were all looking visibly annoyed, and when no one was looking, the boy closest to their table took out his wand. He gave it a flick and made Lorcans worm fly out of his hand, causing it to slap him in the face. Their whole table chuckled quietly and Lysander saw the boy's wand before he had a chance to hide it again. His face immediately burned red with anger and he chucked the worm he was holding right at them. The boy with the wand quickly changed its trajectory and it hit another boy in front of him, another first year from their house. Delilah tried to remember his name, ' _oh yeah, Frank, or was it Fred?'_ That boy turned and realized the twins were the only ones without worms and before Lysander could apologize ("Fred, man, I'm…") he threw the one he was holding. It missed both of the boys and hit Samantha. This created an all out worm war leaving all of the students covered in slime.

The Professor immediately froze all of the worms mid air and moved them back into the bin at the front of the room. He slowly put the lid back on the bin and turned back to the class. "The eight of you responsible will report to the front of the class, everyone else, class dismissed. Make sure to clean up all of your supplies before returning to the castle. Oh and before you go, I want you all to write an essay of at least eighteen inches on how to harvest mucus from a Flobberworm by the next class."

There goes all of Delilahs free time. The whole class groaned and some mumbled about how that was unfair since they weren't even involved. The eight of them cleaned up their mess and slowly walked up to the front of the class, heads bowed low in shame. Well most of them. Lorcan and Lysander looked ashamed but couldn't wipe the grins off their faces. Seeing this, Delilah couldn't help smiling too. She straightened her face quickly once the Professor turned to them, looking rather disgruntled.

"What started this?" He asked, sounding frustrated and disappointed.

Lorcan was the first to speak, "I was milking the worm when all of a sudden it shot out of my hand, hitting me in the face. It shouldn't have done that. Dad showed us how to do it two summers ago. I've milked so many of them I couldn't even tell you how many."

"I saw that Wampus guy with his wand out and was laughing at Lorcan," Lysander backed him up.

"No I did not!" the boy shouted. "He just threw his worm at me because I was laughing at his brother!" he said pointing at Lysander.

"Alright enough," the Professor said. "Lysander, Benjamin, you each will be serving detention with me the next free period you have. Report here at the appointed time for your free period. You may go, but not you guys. You two stick around for moment," he said pointing to the twins.

Everyone else started heading back to the castle and went straight to their respective towers, presumably to shower before returning to the dining hall for dinner. Everyone but Delilah though. She just headed straight to the dining hall to take advantage of the fact that it was nearly empty.

She couldn't eat so she took her book out to study. She wasn't hungry. It was a good thing too. People started coming in for dinner, and soon the food would be appear. She had chose to study since she had so much to do. She couldn't do it now, so she put her book away. She left the hall before the food had even reached the table. It was quiet heading to the tower, she had only passed one other student, they must all be eating. She was ready for bed before anyone else in the tower had even returned. Since no one was in the common room, she went upstairs. Walking into the dorm, she put down her bag. After she put away her supplies, she grabbed her favorite book, slippers, and bathrobe. She took a long bath, got ready for bed, and then crawled into bed. The sun was starting to set, the sky turning red and orange, so she closed her curtains. _She had started classes today,_ but that didn't matter. She was tired. She hadn't been able to sleep the night before. It was her first day of wizarding school, and it was a horrible day. The last thing she thought as she laid down to sleep was _**WOO-HOO! FIRST DAY OF CLASSES!**_


	9. Wizarding School Can Be Boring Too

Delilah got up before the sun again, not surprisingly seeing as how she was in bed before it had set. She slowly got ready and gathered the supplies she was going to need for the day. Today was History of Magic and Transfiguration, so she packed her books and wand into her backpack, her writing supplies already in there from yesterday. _Let's hope today is a whole lot better than yesterday_. Sam wasn't up yet so she went down to the common room to go make use of the window nooks they had down there.

The common room was empty, no other student was awake yet. It was quiet and peaceful in there. Since no one was there and she already knew breakfast wouldn't be served yet, she leisurely perused the books on the walls, noticing there were some books that were centuries old. A very old and interesting looking book up near the top caught her attention, so she slid over one if the ladders. She started climbing to the top very carefully and slowly since she was afraid of heights. Once at the top she leaned against the ladder, still hanging onto the top rung with one hand. She carefully pulled the book out and balanced it against the top rung next to her hand. It was covered in dust, so she took a deep breath and blow most of it off. She immediately sneezed and almost toppled off the ladder. Grabbing back on with both hands, she steadied herself. Luckily she hadn't dropped the book. She wiped off the rest of the dust off the cover with her hand and finally got it clean enough to see the cover. It was inscribed with different symbols and was latched shut. She tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. It looked old, old enough to probably be the oldest book in the whole common room. She really wanted to know what was inside or where the book came from.

"Did you know that this library was put together by previous students?" Lorcan said, scaring Delilah. She jumped so bad she started to lose her balance, and lost her grip on the ladder. Seeing her start to fall, Lorcan ran underneath of her and tried to catch her when she came tumbling down. He didn't quite get there in time to brace for her landing, and ended up crumbling beneath her.

"Ooomph. You should really be more careful," he said, smashed under her. "you could have hurt yourself."

Realizing she was still on top of him, she quickly got up, blushing. "You really shouldn't sneak up on people when they are on ladders. You could hurt someone."

"Seems like the only person who got hurt was me," he said, slightly embarrassed, though still chuckling. "As long as you are safe though."

"Oh no, are you really hurt?" she said, quickly checking to see if anything was bleeding, broken, or bruised. "You look good, uh, I mean, alright. You look like you're alright."

"Nah, I'm ok. I'll be a little sore tomorrow, but that beats the broken bones you were sure to have if I hadn't caught you."

"You didn't really catch me," she pointed out, suppressing a smile. "More like padded my fall."

"Either way, I'm glad you are alright. Did you atleast find a good book?" he asked, motioning to the book lying next to them.

"I don't know quite yet. I couldn't get it open." she frowned at the book like it just insulted her. "It's locked shut."

"Oh did you try Alohomora?" Lorcan asked.

"Aloha more? You want me to say hello to it?"

"Alohomora, it's the spell to open things," he said chuckling.

"I didn't even know you could do that," she said, wishing she knew as much about the wizarding world as everyone else seemed to.

Lorcan noticed she was getting upset, "You know, I'd be willing to teach you what I already know."

"No, it's ok. I wouldn't want to be a burden, I'm sure I'll learn everything I need to know in class. We already have a lot to do as it is, surely you wouldn't have the time," she said, avoiding his eyes. She was not good at accepting help. She was so used to doing things on her own.

"Well, I won't push you to, but the offer is always on the table. I can always make time for you...it...helping you that is. It's really no big deal."

"Alright, thanks," she said, blushing again.

"Morning guys!" Lysander said, walking into the room stretching. "What are you guys doing on the floor?"

"Delilah fell on me," Lorcan laughed. "She hurt me so bad!" he said laying back down feigning injury.

She jokingly punched him in the arm, "more like you made me fall and then jumped underneath of me to try and unsuccessfully catch me!"

"Ugh, and then that's how she thanks me, injuring me again!" he said, pretending to be dying. "I don't know how much more pain I can take."

"You're such a baby, Lorcan" Lysander said, shaking his head. He reached his hands out to help them up, "Do you need me to call the Wambulance?"

"Well seeing as how you have them on speed dial, I'm sure you would be the best person to call. Don't you have a frequent flier punch card through them?" He said, laughing. "It has to be full by now! Merlin knows you have to call them all the time!"

Lysander let go of his brother's hand, causing him to fall back onto the floor. Crossing his arms and pretending to be hurt by his words he said, "Fine, be that way, I didn't want to help you anyways. I don't even want to talk to you."

"Boys, boys, now kiss and make up." Sam said as she walked in the room. "That way we can go eat breakfast without you two bickering like an old married couple. And make it fast, I'm starving."

They all gathered their stuff, Delilah stashing the book she found in her bag for later. She'd have to try that alohamore spell Lorcan was talking about. Maybe she could get one of them to help her with that later. They exited through the portrait, Lysander giving Einstein a fist bump against the canvas, "Peaz oot uum doog."

During breakfast, Luna dropped off two scrolls to Delilah. Since she was running out of time to eat, she stashed them in her bag for later. Shoveling the rest of her food in her mouth and downing her juice, she chased after the others as they got up to go to class, they had History of Magic first. Maybe after taking this class, Delilah could be on the same page as everyone else. She hated being out of the loop. Walking into the stadium style classroom, the four of them looked for seats. Since it was pretty full already, they had to sit in different rows, but still found seats relatively close to one another. There were two seats together, one in front of them, and one behind. The two girls sat in the seats together, Lorcan in the front, and Lysander in the back.

The teacher rushed in, papers and books askew in her hands. She was a younger woman with dirty blonde hair pulled back in a low bun, and grey eyes hidden behind her smudged glasses. She was wearing a light grey button up shirt that was buttoned unevenly and a black pencil skirt that was quite wrinkled. Aside from the fact that she looked a bit of a mess, she was quite pretty. She dropped the stack she had in her hands on the desk, a couple books and papers landing on the floor. She bent down to pick them up, but upon standing up, she hit her head on the desk. She stood up quickly and straightened out her clothes as best as she could, in the process noticing her shirt was buttoned wrong and that there was a coffee stain on her blouse. Her hair was now a little messy after hitting her head and was starting to fall out of her bun. Taking a look around the room, she checked to see if anyone noticed. Of course the whole class was staring at her. She blushed and then cleared her throat.

"Well, good morning everyone. My name is Professor Klootz." She said, straightening her glasses and writing her full name on the board. "You may call me Gracie though. I will be teaching you the History of Magic. Now if you would please, grab your books and writing supplies, and turn to page 12 in your textbook. We will begin in just a moment," She said. She mumbled to herself while searching for her copy of the book, "If I could find my book that is."

A piece of paper landed on her desk from over her shoulder.

 _ **Ly:Bit of a disaster this one. It's rather Ironic that her name is Gracie, though her last name is quite fitting.**_

 _ **D:That's not very nice. She's obviously having a hard morning. Give her a break.**_

She tossed it back, hitting him in the face. It landed back on her table rather quickly.

 _ **Ly:You don't have to be mean, I was only kidding.**_

She looked back to see if he really was upset with her. He was trying to look sad, but at the same time trying not to smile. She rolled her eyes and wrote back.

 _ **D:Talk about being a baby. Maybe your brother was right, how many stamps you got on your wambulance card?**_

 _ **Ly:You cut me deep Steward, real deep. I may never recover. I may just die here in these horrible seats.**_

She peeked back again and he was pretending to die in his seat.

 _ **D:Oh my goodness. You're such a drama queen. Now quit distracting me, I gotta pay attention.**_

Gracie had finally found her book and started reading from the book, making a few comments about what she was reading along the way. The way she read the book was so bland and monotone she was making herself tired. _Oh man, this class is going to be a long one if this is how she teaches._ After about 20 minutes Delilah started nodding off. Lorcan had seen her head fall out of her hand, waking herself back up. She shook her head to try and shake off the sleepiness. Lorcan wrote her a note and slid it onto her desk when Gracie was not looking.

 _ **Lo:Having as hard of a time staying awake as I am I see.**_

 _ **D:Ugh, I'm trying so hard to pay attention. This is going to be a long class. I might as well just read the book outside of class. She's not going to be much help other than getting me caught up on sleep.**_

 _ **Lo:I have to agree with you on that one. Well I was thinking about that book. Did you ever figure out how to get it open?**_

 _ **D:No. I think it's locked somehow.**_

 _ **Lo:I can help you figure out how to open it after transfiguration if you'd like.**_

 _ **D:That would be great. Thanks!**_

 _ **Lo:Alright, it's a**_ _ **date**_ _**plan.**_

He was blushing as he handed it back, he had tried to scribble over the word date, but she could still see it. She blushed a bit as she hid the sheet in her bag. Another note was on her desk by the time she turned back to it. It wasn't either of the twins handwriting so it must have been from Sam.

 _ **S:Getting love letters from both the twins now huh? Got a secret love triangle going on?**_

She scoffed as she read this. Shaking her head she responded.

 _ **D:Lysander is just being a pest and Lorcan offered to help me figure out how to open this book I found in the common room this morning. Definitely not love letters.**_

 _ **S:Mmhmm sure. Likely story.**_

Samantha was smiling but had gone back to paying attention. Delilah hid the paper in her bag and when she turned to her desk, there was another note. _Oh my goodness. How am I supposed to be paying attention?_

 _ **Ly:I thought you were trying to pay attention. I see how it is, you just don't want to talk to me.**_

He had just wrote it under the notes they had passed before. She turned to look at Lysander and he was sitting there with his arms crossed, head turned away from her, nose to the air, forced frown on his face.

 _ **D:Oh my goodness. I am trying to pay attention but everyone keeps passing me notes!**_

 _ **Ly:Mmmhmm. Likely story. I got it. You can make it up to me by hanging out with me during our free period after transfiguration.**_

 _ **D:Don't you have detention during that time with your uncle? Either way, I already have plans.**_

 _ **Ly:Oh yeah...Man...I forgot about that. Already have plans huh. Little miss popular already.**_

 _ **D:It's not like that. Lorcan offered to help me with something.**_

 _ **Ly:Oh, I see. Well you guys have fun without me. I'll just be all alone, being tortured in detention.**_

 _ **D:Oh I'm sure he will go easy on you seeing as how you're family.**_

 _ **Ly:Yeah right. He'll probably make me finish milking the Flobberworms using my mouth.**_

 _ **D:That's disgusting, I doubt he'd be that hard on you. You'll be done before you know it. Use this as a lesson to be better behaved and maybe you won't have to suffer through detention again.**_

She watched him as he read it and he stuck his tongue out at her before responding and handing it back.

 _ **Ly:Not all of us are goodie two shoes like you are. Plus being bad is so much more fun. You should try it sometime.**_

She looked back at him and he just winked at her. She turned back around, chuckling, and put that note in her bag as well. She was thankful that there were no new notes on her desk as she turned back that time. She went to pay attention but then realized the class was already over. Luckily she caught the last of what the Professor had said before she wrapped it up. They had only gone over the first chapter. She packed up her bag and vowed to read it later.

"Did I really miss anything that wasn't in the book?" She asked Sam.

"Not a whole lot. I took note of everything she said though. You can borrow my notes if you need to, though you should have been paying attention," Sam responded jokingly.

"Thanks, you're a lifesaver. I'll make sure to return the favor."

"Mmmhmm...suuuure," Sam said smiling.

Delilah just laughed and followed the group to Transfiguration. This class was bound to make up for the torturing boring lesson they all just had to endure. They would actually be getting to learn how to use their wands, she couldn't be more excited. They made their way to the Transfiguration classroom in no time. It was just down the hall. There were only a couple of other students in the classroom so far so they pretty much had the pick of tables. They landed in the center table again. This time, the boys sort of herded her into the seat between them, Lysander between the two girls. Once seated he put his arms around both of them pulling them in close.

"What more perfect seat than between two beautiful ladies."

The two girls shook their heads and both shoved his arm off their shoulder.

"Alright Casanova, mitts off the goods," Sam joked.

Lysander just laughed and went about gathering his supplies. Once they were all settled, Professor Lovegood walked into the room, wide smile on his face.

"Welcome to transfiguration. I see you are all prepared. Unfortunately we will not be needing your wands today."

There were many groans across the room, the four of them included.

"Not to worry, not to worry. We will have plenty of time to make use of wands this year. This first class, we will just be going over the basics. We need to make sure everyone gets the basic concepts of wand usage and the theory behind spells before we can safely begin to use our wands. I promise next class we will actually get to the wands. So if you could please, put away your wands, get out your books, turn to page 7, and read the first chapter please. After our lunch break, I will go over some tips and tricks to using your wands effectively and efficiently. I will also demonstrate a few spells we will be learning the next few classes. Chop chop, those books aren't going to read themselves."

Everyone did as they were told and got to reading. They hadn't been reading long before Lysander wrote a note for them all to see.

 _ **Ly:And to think, I was all excited to get to this class, especially after the last class, only to be let down for the third time today.**_

 _ **D:Third time? I get two times, when was the third?**_

 _ **Ly:Well I got shot down by this evil girl earlier. She broke my heart.**_

 _ **Lo:Oh wow, pathetic much?**_

 _ **S:Can't say I blame her, have you looked in the mirror lately?**_

 _ **Lo:Hey! I have the same face!**_

 _ **Ly:I'm wounded Samantha. Wounded right in the heart. How dare you.**_

 _ **D:I'm sure you'll survive. We should probably get to reading. I already have to read the chapter we went over in History of Magic and write two essays tonight. Last thing I need is to pile more work on top of that. I'm already going to have to stay up late tonight to catch up. Now no more notes from any of you!**_

 _ **Lo:Yes ma'am!**_ _**Ly:Aye aye captain!**_ _**S:**_ _ **Geeze, bossy much?**_

Delilah just shook her head and put this note with the others. She found the page they were supposed to be reading and got to work. She only got about halfway through the chapter when Professor Lovejoy dismissed them for lunch. Since she did not want to get stuck having to read the chapter later, she ate her lunch while reading the rest of the chapter, getting after anyone who tried to interrupt her. The rest of the class was pretty uneventful. The spells Professor Lovejoy demonstrated were pretty neat to see, but they were basic spells so they weren't really exciting. Since it did not take long for him to finish, he let the class out early to give them more time to get their work done. He too had added an essay for them to write. His wasn't too bad though, only half a foot on the basics of wand usage, leaving it pretty open ended, making it that much easier to write.

They all went up to the common room to get started on their work. Since Delilah was already overwhelmed with the amount of work they had to get done, she excused herself from the group and occupied one of the study nooks instead of joining them. By the time she finished reading the chapter she missed in History of Magic and writing the essay for that class and the long one for Care of Magical Creatures, the boys and Sam had come over to drag her away for dinner. She was more than ready for the break so she put organized her stuff and left it there so she could come right back to work when they were done. They all traveled together down to the dining hall to gorge themselves. Man working hard sure did work up an appetite. They all went back for thirds before groaning because they were so full. Lysander bid his goodbyes, acting like he was leaving for war, before heading out to the barn for his detention. The rest of them returned to the common room to finish their work.

It didn't take too long for her to finish the other two essays she had due, and was relieved to be finished. Lorcan had been done for a while since he had actually paid attention for the most part during History of Magic, so he had finished before the girls, and was just sitting there waiting for the girls to be finished. Once he noticed Delilah was done, he walked over to her nook while she was packing up her stuff.

"So did you still want to be left alone?"

"Oh no, I'm good now. Just was really overwhelmed thinking about all the work I had to get done. I feel much better that it is all done so I don't have to worry about it anymore."

"I hear you on that one. Well, did you still want to figure out that book, or are you too worn out from all the work?"

"I almost forgot about that!" she said, turning to grab the book. "No, I'm not too tired for that. I've been dying to figure out what is in this book all day!"

"Well, mind if I join you in there then? Or would it be too crowded?"

"What about Sam?" She said, looking around the room to see where she was.

"Oh, she said something about being too stressed out. She went to go take a bath I think."

"Ok. Well in that case yeah why not. I'll just scoot over a bit, there's plenty of room," she said, moving over so he could join her.

Lorcan sat down and grabbed the book from her to look it over. He tried to open it by hand, but ended up with the same conclusion she had, it was locked somehow. He flipped it over a few times to see if there was a locking mechanism, and when he failed to find one, concluded that it was locked by magic. He had brought over his backpack when he walked over, so he bent down and grabbed his wand. He set the book down on the moveable desk and cleared his throat.

"Alohomora," he said while waving his wand over the book, causing the latch to pop open, successfully opening the book.

"Wow, that was cool," Delilah said. "Can you show me how you did that?"

"Sure," he said, blushing at her praise. "I'll teach you how to lock things too. It won't be too much security from anyone who knows Alohomora, but it's still neat to learn.

"Watch me closely, I'll lock it now. It's a bit harder than unlocking it. Colloportus" he said, first moving his wand across, down a little, back across, and then down. He then moved his wand in a circle, starting at the top, and then down, "Alohomora."

He showed her how to do it a couple more times and then had her try, first starting with Alohomora since it was easier. She got it on the first try, but had difficulty getting it to lock again. She tried a few times and then got frustrated.

"Here, let me help you," he said scooting closer to her and holding her hand in his. "Like this."

"Colloportus," she said while he helped her move her hand in the correct way. It still didn't work so they tried again. This time it worked and she squealed in glee.

"That is so cool! Thanks for teaching me!" She said giving him a hug.

Lysander had returned to the common room at that time, noticing them cuddled up in the nook, now in an embrace. He cleared his throat and said, "Hey guys! Finally finished detention, sure hope you guys didn't miss me too much."

Lorcan and Delilah jumped apart, both blushing a bit.

"Just taught her how to do the spells to lock and unlock things. She's a natural!" Lorcan said, obviously proud he had been able to teach her.

"It wasn't all me, you're a great teacher!" Delilah complemented, blushing from his compliment.

This caused Lorcan to blush again, so he jumped up and grabbed his book, hoping no one noticed. "Well since there obviously isn't enough space in here for the three of us, let's move out to the couches."

"Sounds good to me," Delilah said, gathering her things and following him to the couches, making sure to sit on the couch across from him.

Sam had just walked back into the common room and plopped down on the couch next to Delilah. Lysander sat down next to Lorcan, seeming a bit more grumpy than he was when he came in. He hadn't said anything after his initial greeting, and Delilah wondered if they had said something to offend him. Thinking he was mad at her, she turned to him and asked, "So how was your detention? I hope it wasn't as bad as you feared."

"Oh, it was no big deal really. He had me finish milking the worms. I didn't have to use my teeth though, and seeing as how most of everyone had already started their second jar, it really wasn't too much work. I think the other guy had his detention before me though, because I only had to finish like 10 jars," he said, seeming more upbeat.

"Well that's good. Now try not to be such a trouble maker. It was much too quiet without you here," Delilah said with a smile. She then joked, "not that I didn't appreciate the silence."

He threw a pillow at her before laughing as well. They hung out for a little while longer before Delilah started yawning. It wasn't that late, but she was definitely beat. Sam was feeling a bit tired too, so they both gathered their stuff and went upstairs to bed.


	10. Back On Top

Delilah was not up before the sun the next day, but she was still up before everyone else. She got ready in her usual pace and gathered her supplies. She swapped out all the books in her bag with the ones she needed for today off of her bookshelf and headed down to the common room where she realized no one was up yet. Today she had double potions and herbology. She remembered to grab her gloves today, there was a chance she would need them in both classes and it would be a shame to be stuck without them again. When she bounded into the common room, almost tripping on the last step, she noticed Lorcan was already there. He was sitting in one of the nooks, focused on a book he was reading. Delilah walked up to his nook and leaned against the shelves just outside.

"Whatcha reading?" She said, causing him to startle a bit.

"You really shouldn't sneak up on people when they are reading. You could hurt someone," he said, throwing her words from the morning before back at her.

"Oh no! What's the worst that can happen? You get a papercut?" she said laughing. "It's not like I was being quiet. I practically tripped, um well, I was being loud."

"Have a nice _trip_ down the stairs did ya?" he said jokingly. "You're rather clumsy aren't you? First you blow up a potion, then you fall off the ladder, now you're tripping _down_ the steps. Do we need to put you in a plastic bubble?"

"I'm not that clumsy," she said blushing, knowing he was right. It was surprising she hadn't seriously hurt herself yet. Her guardian angel was probably exhausted from having to save her from herself. She definitely had her work cut out for her, she had to admit it, "Ok, maybe a little."

"I'm just messing with you," Lorcan said chuckling. "So did you ever look at what was in that book?"

"Oh, no. I completely forgot about it last night after Lysander got there," She said, blushing a bit remembering the night before. "Wanna check it out with me? Well, do you mind if I join you in there then? Or would it be too crowded?" She said, throwing his words at him.

"Sure," Lorcan said scooting over, shaking his head and smiling.

She sat down next to him and pulled the book out of her bag. As she did two scrolls fell out of her bag. _Oh shoot I never read my letters,_ she thought. She turned to Lorcan and said, "Actually can we raincheck that? I just realised I never responded, or even read the letters I got yesterday morning. I'm sure my parents are expecting a response."

"Of course," Lorcan said smiling, reaching back into his bag for the book he was reading and started reading as she left his nook. She ran back up to the dorm and thankfully Luna was in her cage. She opened the first scroll, it was from Lia.

 _ **Hey Delilah,**_

 _ **I wish I could be there too, it really does sounds amazing there. I'm glad you made a friend already, but I better still be your best friend though!No one can replace me! I am irreplaceable! But seriously though, I am glad. I knew you wouldn't have a hard time. You are too great of a friend to pass up!**_

 _ **So, other than mermaids and unicorns, have you seen any other magical beings? Are Werewolves real? What about dragons? Fairies? BIGFOOT?! Come on please tell me bigfoot is real!**_

 _ **Ilvermorny sounds amazing and I am definitely jealous! It sounds like I would move into your dorm and never leave. I mean who gets to have both a multi head shower**_ _ **AND**_ _**a jetted tub? Then on top of that feasts for every meal? They are totally spoiling you guys. It sounds like you were placed in the perfect house too, you book worm. I'm sure you are in heaven being surrounded with so many books. Now don't go getting no ideas and not coming home for holidays because it is so amazing there.**_

 _ **Speaking of houses, that's amazing that you got all the invitations! One of two to EVER get all four! That's pretty impressive! I always knew there was something special about you, well other than the fact that you're a witch and all. Why else would I be friends with you? I'm only best friends with the coolest people. Gotta keep up with my amazingness huh?**_

 _ **My summer has been pretty good, lonely a bit without you here to keep me company but at least the weather is nice! I've been making use of your hammock, I hope you don't mind!It sure is peaceful out there! I can see why you like to spend time out there.**_

 _ **Well I better wrap this up. I'm sitting in your parent's kitchen right now as I am writing this, I'm sure they would like to get back to their breakfast!**_

 _ **Miss you tons!**_

 _ **-Lia**_

 _ **AKA The best friend ever!**_

Delilah just laughed and set her letter aside, she wanted to read what her parents wrote before writing back.

 _ **Hello Sweetheart,**_

 _ **I sure do miss having you around every day! My days are just not as light without my bright star at home! I am so proud of you! All four invitations! I knew you were destined for greatness! Congratulations darling!**_

 _ **I'm sure you are loving it in your house! It definitely sounds like you picked the right house, you must be in heaven. Now don't go getting wild ideas like not coming home for the holidays! I don't know how I will even make it till then! I miss you so much, but I am happy that you are having such a great time! It does sound pretty amazing there.**_

 _ **I'm glad you found a friend so fast! I know you always had a hard time making new friends. She must have seen how amazing you were from the start. I can't wait to meet her, she sounds like a very wonderful girl.**_

 _ **Well your father is waiting to write his own response so I'll let you go. Make sure you get enough to eat and plenty of sleep. Make sure to pay attention in class and get all your homework done. I just know you'll do great!**_

 _ **I love and miss you more than you know!**_

 _ **Mom**_

 _ **Xoxo**_

 _ **Dear Delilah,**_

 _ **I'm sure you have a lot on your plate so I'll make this quick. Congrats on all of the invitations! I'm so proud of you! I always knew you were beyond impressive! I'm glad you are having such a great time. Ilvermorny sounds fantastic,. it sounds more grand than Hogwarts even. I'm sure your mother went over all the good parenting advice so I'll spare you this time.**_

 _ **Love and miss you tons!**_

 _ **Dad**_

 _ **Oh and darling, Lia does seem to be having a hard time without you here too. So maybe when you write to her now, please keep in mind that the chance you are being given is extraordinary and it might be making her feel bad that she is not able to go too. Just a thought.**_

 _ **Love you and make good choices!**_

 _ **-Mom**_

 _Oh no! I hope I didn't hurt Lia's feelings_ Delilah thought. She quickly got to writing them back before she ran out of time to eat breakfast, the other girls having just left.

 _ **Ms Irreplaceable,**_

 _ **I really do miss you a ton and I miss you even more after reading your letter! And yes of course, no one can replace you! I'm sorry it took so long to write back! The first two days of school have been so hectic! Between classes and homework, I've just barely had enough time to sleep. I hope you have been making the most of the last few days of your summer. I sure wish I was at home soaking up the sun with you! Yes, of course you can use my hammock. Mi hammock es tu hammock. It is quite nice out there huh?**_

 _ **Sorry but no sight of Bigfoot, dragons, werewolves or fairies yet. At least not that I know of. Don't werewolves look just like normal people when there is no full moon? And there hasn't been a full moon since I have been here so I don't think I would have seen one anyways. The only thing I have encountered other than unicorns and mermaids are these nasty slug like worms called flobberworms. Trust me when I say you would**_ _ **not**_ _**be excited about having to handle one. We had to milk them for their mucus. I'm starting to vomit in my mouth just thinking about it. Ugh. Talk about nasty.**_

 _ **Well I better get to writing back my parents otherwise I'll miss breakfast. I have a big day today, so I'm gonna need it. After my first week I'll let you know how classes are going (and believe me when I say that they**_ _ **have not**_ _**been going well so far).**_

 _ **Miss you!**_

 _ **Delilah**_

 _ **Hey Mom,**_

 _ **Sorry it took so long to respond, its been a crazy busy week so far and I really didn't even have the time to read your letters till just now.**_

 _ **Thank you for the heads up on Lia. I would have never guessed with how upbeat her letter seemed. I hope she isn't taking it too hard. I told her she was welcome to use my hammock, just an FYI. Oh and thanks for the praise. I could really use it right about now.**_

 _ **Classes haven't been going too great but I don't really have the time to talk about it now. I'll tell you all about it after the first week. Something tells me I'm going to be quite busy trying to keep up with classes.**_

 _ **Well, I gotta hurry up and write back to dad too so I can go get breakfast. Like you say, it's the most important meal of the day and I have a feeling I'm gonna need it.**_

 _ **And don't worry, I'll make sure to make good choices and I will for sure be coming home for the holidays. I miss you all too much not to.**_

 _ **Love and miss you tons!**_

 _ **Lia**_

 _ **Hola Dad,**_

 _ **Thanks for keeping it short and sweet. It has been a busy week so far so sorry that my response is quick too. I'm sure mom will fill you in! Well I gotta get to breakfast before I miss it. Thanks for the praise! I really needed it!**_

 _ **I love and miss you!**_

 _ **Delilah**_

She sealed them up, tied them to Luna, gave her a treat, and opened the window so she could take flight. _Well at least that was done_ , she thought as she ran downstairs. She got there just fast enough to join the others and grab a bit of food before it vanished. Then the four of them were off to double Potions. They took the same seat in the middle of the classroom as last time, though this time Sam and Lorcan took the middle seats. They must not want a repeat of last time they were in this class, they wanted to make sure Lysander and Delilah paid attention. She was seated next to Lorcan so she knew she was going to have to pay attention, he must have figured she would pass notes with Sam too. She couldn't say it wouldn't have happened.

Today they were making an herbicide potion, which made sense seeing as how herbology was their next class. Professor Hindamon was in the front of the class going over techniques again and Delilah was making sure to take notes. If they were going to be using it in the next class, she didn't want to be stuck being one of the ones who had ruined their potion.

 _ ***Grind spines/standard ingredient rough, doesn't need to be fine**_

 _ ***wave in 2 small circles then 2 large circles**_

 _ ***45 Min**_

 _ ***Clockwise**_

 _ ***Wave clockwise, same movements**_

 _ ***Should appear strange looking**_

She was now going over the safety precautions and procedures if you got the potion on you. Delilah looked down to her notes and realized Lorcan had written on the side of them.

 _ **I'm Sorry but are these**_

 _ **the notes from class**_

 _ **or for a**_

 _ **weird dance?**_

Confused about what he meant, she re-read over her notes and couldn't help but laugh out loud. Hindamon looked in her direction and said, "Now Miss Steward, what could possibly be so funny? Are you seeing a premonition of your caudron blowing up in your face again? Because that is exactly what is going to happen if you do not pay attention!"

Blushing, she bent her head low and went back to writing her notes about making sure to wear your gloves at all times. She sure was glad she triple checked that her gloves were in her bag, she didn't need to get into anymore trouble. Their potion was a success, and furthermore, was the best in the class. Professor Hindamon was beaming she was so proud, "Exceptional potion! Now this is the kind of work I expect from my house! This will work wonders in Herbology! Congrats to all of you! All of the students taking Herbology this year will be using your solution. It really is perfect."

Still feeling great from the praise, they entered the dining hall feeling like a million Dragots. It was nice being back at the top of the class, she wasn't used to doing poorly, she usually did really well in school. They ate like royalty and enjoyed a rather pleasant lunch. They even had Pumpkin Pasties and Pumpkin Juice, her favorites. Delilah was so excited for fall. It was the best season, she loved everything about it. It was just so beautiful when the leaves started to change colors. She could just picture it now, the grounds being highlighted with orange and red, the sound of leaves crunching beneath her boots. She couldn't wait until she could take out her scarves and hats but it was still too warm. Soon though.

 _So far, today has been a great day_ , she thought. She was hoping Herbology would be as great as she was imagining it. She always had a green thumb and was quite the gardener. She just really loved being outdoors. There was something rejuvenating and refreshing about the fresh air, the dirt between your fingers, the sun on her skin. Walking across the grounds to the barn after lunch she imagined what it was going to be like. They had only gotten a quick glimpse into the greenhouse when they were on the tour. She didn't even know how big the greenhouse was since it had been dark by the time they had gotten there during the tour. They hadn't even come to this area when they had explored the grounds and the barn was on the other side of the property.

As they rounded the last corner of the castle and the greenhouses came into view, well the greenhouse compound. There were quite a few greenhouses plus a large supply shed the size of her old gymnasium. The shed was set up as a classroom with one side of the room lined with shelves filled with various gardening tools and supplies. On the opposite side, there were shelves of newly budded plants resting beneath grow lights, and on the wall facing them, just one big chalkboard. If they were going to be doing a real class before going into the greenhouses, there would be a lot to have to draw, so the huge board made sense. It did not smell like there was manure in there which was good, they must store it in a different building. Delilah was not sure she would be able to sit through a whole class without vomiting if it did. They settled into another centrally located seat, though this time she had talked them into sitting closer to the front. She wanted to be able to get a good look at the board and anything the Professor was demonstrating, though Lysander still refused to sit in the front row. This class she was forced to sit between Sam and Lorcan, they really wanted to make sure she was paying attention today. Luckily the Professor walked in just as Lysander started complaining about how close they were to the front, cutting him off mid whine.

"Hello, and welcome to Herbology, please take a seat. My name is Professor Jazmin Ivy. You all may call be Jazmin. I have an exciting year planned for us, but first and foremost, we must learn how to prep the greenhouses for our little buds," she said walking over to pat a few newly sprouted plants gently. "Just a bit of herbology humor. Just in case my name did not make it obvious, I come from a long line of Herbalists, so plant jokes are really all I got. Anyhoo, today we will be clearing your greenhouse of weeds and gnomes, but first we must learn about the proper techniques and precautions necessary to avoid injury. So if you would please, turn to page 73 in your textbook please."

They all pulled out their textbook and Professor Ivy started demonstrating how to properly expel gnomes. Delilah seemed to be only one of 2 students paying attention. _Is there really only one other student who has never had to expel gomes before?_ She couldn't believe there were not more mo-maj raised students in the class. She wrote a note and passed it to Sam.

 _ **Is there really only one other no-maj raise student? Not that I expect them to be common but You would think that there would be more. Or at least more students who had not encountered a gnome before.**_

 _ **Informing a no-maj of the wizarding world and marrying a no-maj is strictly forbidden. Because of this, it has kind of wiped out the random wizard showing up in a no-maj family and most wizards stick to wizarding towns so they don't have to hide it. I mean what's the point of having magic if you can't use it. There are a few who prefer "roughing it" but it's less common than being born in a no-maj family.**_

 _ **You mean it is illegal? Like could you really get in trouble for telling a no-maj?**_

Delilah was going to have to remember not to mention that she told her best friend about the wizarding world.

 _ **Yeah. They had to outlaw it many years ago. Some issue of no-maj panic, they once were burning witches, did you know that?**_

 _ **Yeah, the Salem Witch trials. They taught us about that in school.**_

 _ **I'm sure it was taught with some witch hating rosy glasses. It was brutal. Witches had to flee to other countries and were almost wiped out of America all together. They only really started coming back the last few decades or so. I think Voldemort scared all the witches and wizards back over here. Compared to him, hiding from no-majs' must have seemed like cake. At least they didn't have to fight against other people with magic.**_

Delilah had nothing to say to this. American history had tended to favor the winning sides. The witch trials probably were much worse than she had been taught. The Professor Ivy had switched topics to proper handling of the herbicide they had made and had caught the girls' attention again as she thanked them for the perfectly brewed potion. Lysander stood and bowed, though no one else in their group understood why. He hadn't done any of the work. Everyone else had kept him from handling anything since he was the one who kept mixing stuff up the time before. Either way they still let him have his two seconds of fame, laughing at him the whole time.

Before long, they were in the greenhouse. The four of them found out real quick why Professor Ivy had kept the teaching portion of her class so short, the greenhouse was a disaster. After having been left unattended for the whole summer, the whole place had been infested with Devil's snare and gnomes. They had created some symbiotic relationship, the gnomes brought the Devil's Snare food (like bugs, amphibians, and small rodents) and in turn the Devil's Snare protected them from predators. The evidence of such relationship was evident by the remains on the floor, there were small bones and bits of bugs all over. Then as if that wasn't enough, the garden beds were also completed filled with weeds. They really had their work cut out for them, it was probably going to take them all winter to clear this thing out. They all set to work, trying not to get tangled up in the vines, thankful Professor Ivy provided them the hint that the devil's snare hated light.

Since they had not yet really used their wands, Professor Ivy would not let them use incendio. She most likely believed they did not have the control necessary to avoid burning down the greenhouse, so she had them stick it Lumos, the flashlight spell. This did not stop Lysander from giving Incendio a try late into the afternoon though. The students were getting careless by this point since they were all starting to get exhausted. One student had to be escorted to the healer's ward after being snagged by the devil's snare, breaking his arm. Professor Ivy had sent him with another student and was outside the greenhouse showing them where to go. Lysander's leg had then been snagged by the vines and in his panic of getting it broken, used Incendio to free himself. Of course, like Professor Ivy had believed, he started a fire that got out of control. Luckily enough students knew Aguamenti, the water spell, to put it out quickly. The four of them helped cover up his mistake by quickly trimming the burnt branches and using Reparo to repair the burnt tables and wall. Luckily he made it out of that mess without getting caught and only a minor burn on his leg and a handful of scratches.

Covered in sweat, dirt, cuts, and a few burns, they finally walked out of the greenhouse just as the sun had set. The stars were twinkling above and it had cooled off significantly, which was good because it was very warm in the greenhouse, especially after the fire. They had been working for hours and had hardly made a dent. It really was going to take them forever to finish. Noticing how late it was, they knew if they went to take a shower, they would miss dinner so about thirty students ended up eating dinner looking like they had just survived a war. Having expelled a lot of energy cutting back the plants, fighting a fire, and conjuring spells, they all ate like they hadn't eaten in weeks. Gorging on food like wild beasts, just about all of them snapped at anyone trying to come between them and their food. Having shoveled down enough food to feed an army, they all retreated to their dorms to clean up. After everyone had washed up, they had planned on gathering in the common room to enjoy a free evening without homework, a reprieve they assumed would not happen often.

Delilah was the last in line to shower, so she laid down on her bed to rest a moment, having already changed out of her clothes into a bath robe so she wouldn't get her bed dirty. Just as she laid her head down, Luna came flying in the window, dropping a couple scrolls down on her bed. _Ugh_ , she thought. She did not have the energy to read them and knew if she tried she would fall asleep, so she put them in her nightstand. She would get to those during her free period tomorrow after classes. She grabbed herself some candy to give her the energy needed to get up and shower once Gina was finally done, who was surely taking her sweet time. Delilah didn't blame her, she planned on taking a nice long hot shower as well, she deserved it after today.

Once clean of any trace of what she had to endure in herbology, she joined the others in the common room. There were quite a few people gathered around the group of couches they usually hung out at, which was a bit odd seeing as how some of the older students were there as well. Getting closer to the group she saw that the twins were in the middle of the group playing some sort of board game. It looked a lot like chess, but the pieces were moving on their own and were smashing each other to bits. Seeing her come in the room, Lysander shouted to the group surrounding them

"Here, move aside people, get out of the way. My lucky charm has finally arrived. Scoot down, scoot down, yes I mean you. Move over! Delilah, here come sit with me. I know you are just the good luck charm I need to win this game," he said patting the seat recently vacated. "we found this on one of the shelves and Lorcan thinks he's going to beat me again. There's no way I can let him beat me for the 3rd time in a row. First time is luck, second time a fluke. I've never let him beat me more than twice at anything."

Little did he know that Delilah had the worst luck. Lorcan gave her a knowing smile and chuckled, "I think you picked the wrong good luck charm. In case you forgot, the last time you two sat together, you blew up a potion. I think she may be more of a distraction than anything."

"Nah, that had nothing to do with luck, Delilah is just no good at giving directions," he said with a wink. Delilah elbowed him in the side and acted like she was going to get up, "Ooomph, I was only kidding, no don't get up, stay here. I'll promise to be nice."

"You better be or I'll have to kick your butt," Sam said jokingly.

"There will be no butt kicking here tonight other than me kicking Lorcan's butt," Lysander said, to which Lorcan just shook his head, clearly believing that he would be the champion, the twins really were competitive.

"What is this game anyways?" Delilah asked.

"It's wizarding chess," Lorcan explained. "It's like normal chess, but in this version, the pieces actually battle. There is a chance you may move and not take down the other piece. They all have different health and damage levels so sometimes it takes a couple attacks to beat an opponent's piece. It's like a beefier version of Chess. Pretty neat, huh?"

Delilah had to admit that it was pretty cool. Lysander did end up winning that round, saying it was all due to the lovely lady sitting next to him, he said while pulling her into a side hug. Afterwards, they taught Delilah to play. She played against Lysander and Lorcan sat next to her giving her a few pointers at the beginning of the match until she got the hang of it. She ended up beating him and he refused to admit it was anything other than beginner's luck. Little did he know that Delilah had been raised playing chess against her father and that he did not play nice. She was really a good strategist and a proficient chess player. She let him have his moment and just shrugged it off. She didn't have the energy to correct him, the candy she had eaten earlier had worn off.

She yawned largely and bid everyone good night, heading up to the dorms to get some sleep. She definitely did not want to be tired tomorrow morning. She had History of Magic again, and she did not want to be caught nodding off. She also did not want to get stuck having to read the whole chapter again either.


	11. Flaming Pheonixes

She woke up before everyone else again, which wasn't surprising since everyone else didn't make it back to the dorm before she fell asleep. She went downstairs and found Lorcan playing wizard chess alone.

"Isn't that a two player game?" she asked knowing it was not uncommon for people to play against themselves.

"Yeah but no one was up yet, so I figured I'd get in a practice round. I gotta make sure to beat Lysander next time," he said smiling. "Gotta make sure to knock him down a few pegs every once and awhile."

"He does seem a bit cocky sometimes, huh?"

"Yeah, can't really say I blame him though, he did get all the natural talent. I got the brains though, so I just gotta practice a bit more than he does," he said, looking a bit frustrated. "Well if I'm being honest a lot more. I don't know how he does it, he's just so good at everything and doesn't even have to try."

"I can't say I have any natural talent either, I mean you've seen how graceful I am. I trip over the lines on a basketball court," she said laughing at herself. "It's really quite sad sometimes. That's OK though, I, like you, have the brains, just too bad my brain can't quite operate this body properly."

"I know how that is," Lorcan said smiling. Then with a confused look, he asked "what's basketball?"

"It's this game you play with a large ball and you throw it into a basket to score points," Delilah explained.

"That sounds like Quidditch, except for the fact that it's played on brooms. Well we still have a bit of free time before breakfast is served, wanna play a game?"

Not wanting to have to ask what Quidditch was, she just set to putting the chess pieces in place. They ended up getting through two rounds before any of the others made it down, each winning once. Vowing to play a tiebreaker round that evening, they headed down to breakfast with Lysander and Sam. Once they had their fill they headed to the classroom early to get seats together. Lorcan had been behind her when they walked in the classroom but by the time they headed down the aisle to their seats, Lysander was behind her, so she was sandwiched between him and Sam. Lorcan did not seem too happy about the seating arrangement, most likely because he assumed he would be the only one paying attention. Today was just as boring as the last time, so they all struggled to pay attention. Instead they ended up passing notes.

 _ **Lor- Ugh, I don't know how we will all make it through this class. I want to fall asleep every time we are in here. Who's bright idea was it to have such a boring class first thing in the morning?**_

 _ **S- I have to agree with you on that one. AM History is the worst idea imaginable.**_

 _ **D- Can't say I disagree either.**_

 _ **Ly- Well we could all take turns taking notes. It's not like we all have to pay attention.**_

 _ **D- That sounds fair to me.**_

 _ **S- Yeah me too.**_

 _ **Lor- Or you could just take notes since you're the best at it. :D**_

 _ **Ly- I think not. We all can take turns and since you were the only to disagree, you get to start.**_

 _ **D- I second that.**_

 _ **S- Haha yeah me too.**_

 _ **Lor- Pssh. Whatever. You guys suck.**_

At this point, Lysander forced himself to pay attention to the teacher while the other continued to chat.

 ** _S- I wonder what tomorrow will be like. Double defense and astrology. I have a feeling it's going to be a long day._**

 ** _Lor- From what I hear, they give you a long break between the lecture part of the class and the application part, which makes sense since the sun doesn't even go down till late._**

 ** _D- I wonder how late the classes will go? At least it's a good thing that it's Friday so we can sleep in tomorrow._**

 ** _S- Amen to that sista. I totally plan on sleeping in no matter what time we get out. This week has been killer._**

 ** _D- Me too. Sleep sounds so good right about now._**

 ** _Lor- Same here. Hopefully the whole year isn't this hard. I'm not sure I'll make it._**

 ** _S- Agreed. Hey, dummy head over there is asleep. Wake him up will ya?_**

Delilah elbowed Lysander causing him to snore/snort, getting the attention of the whole class as they all tried to not laugh. Professor Gracie gave him a stern look before returning to her lecture.

 _ **Lor- You owe us big time!**_

 _ **S- Agreed.**_

 _ **Ly- Hey! I never agreed to take notes. This is on you guys.**_

Since the three of them no longer believed in Lysander's note taking capabilities, they all started paying attention and taking notes. A long hour later they were finally out of class. They headed to the Transfiguration class, eager to see what was in store for them today, they would actually get to learn how to do some spells today. They were one of the first few student again since they did not make any stops, and pretty much had the pick of seats. Lysander talked them into sitting closer to the back since they did not need to be up close to understand what they should be doing. All of the students filed in and when the last student sat down, the professor started class.

"Alright. Today we will be learning the spell, Avifors. So if you would please turn to chapter 2 in your book and read the chapter on the spell. Once you are finished I will demonstrate how to properly execute this spell. It is a fairly easy spell, so I presume we will not be needing all class period to complete it. As soon as the whole class has mastered it, you will all be free to go, so I recommend getting started and helping your fellow classmates who are struggling, for you are all now as strong as your weakest link. Now, please begin your reading."

As the students began to gather their books and wands, the professor started handing out stacks of small square paper to all of the students. It resembled the origami paper that Delilah had used at home. Once finished reading she saw she was done before everyone else, so she started folding a few into things like flowers and tiny animals.

 _ **Ly- That's pretty impressive for doing it the no-maj way. My mom usually makes these with magic, but yours are pretty impressive.**_

 _ **D- Thanks, my mom taught me how to make was a Asian market by her work when I was growing up so she used to bring me home different books and various types of paper. Every time she would bring home a new book, we would spend spend all evening mastering them all.**_

 _ **Ly- That's awesome. Do you think you could show me how to do that sometime? Except you know, dinosaurs and tigers instead of these girly things.**_

Delilah just smiled and nodded in agreement. At this point the rest of the students had finished their reading so the professor went on to explain the technique behind the spell

"So you begin by placing a single sheet of paper in front of you. Take your wand, point us at the sheet, and say AVI-forz, and voila you have a bird"

She said the spell as she pointed her wand at the paper and a blue stream turned the paper into a polka-dotted bird.

"Now when you finally get it, it will turn the be the same color blue the magic was, but once you increase your abilities, you will be able to customize it to your own preference and your flock will grow. I will demonstrate it a few more times and then you may proceed to master it. Please make sure to watch your aim, last thing at need is for a student to turn into a bird. I'm sure Miss Dugood would not be too happy to have to fix that mistake again."

She demonstrated it a few times more and on the last time, she created a whole flock of them. The class ooh'd and aah'd and then began to try themselves. Delilah was able to create her bird the first try and received a few boos from the surrounding students, Lysander and Sam included. They must have been having a hard time getting it to work. she conjured a few more and started to get bored. Only a few other students had mastered it, Lorcan included after a few failed attempts. Seeing as how she was so easily able to conjure it, she imagined it looked like a phoenix before performing the spell again. When it came to life, it took the shape and color of a Phoenix, took flight heading straight to the professor, and burst into flames right before her.

"Very impressive, and before the break even. Great job Delilah" the professor said among a bit of cheering and grumbles from her classmates.

She grabbed another sheet and went to conjure a parrot this time but missed. Instead of aiming at the one sheet, she aimed at the stack the table was sharing. All of a sudden they all started turning into parrots and before you knew it, the whole classroom was filled with parrots. The whole class fell silent, the teacher included, and she looked at Delilah with wonder. _It can't have been the only time that's happened?_ She thought to herself, and seeing the teacher still staring at her, she knew it didn't happen often. Embarrassed she set her wand down and shrunk in her seat. Did she mention she hated being the center of attention?

 _ **Ly- How in merlin's beard were you able to do that? I can't even do one stupid blue one and here you are conjuring a huge flock with ease!**_

 _ **S- Yeah how did you do that?**_

 _ **D- I dunno. I just pictured what kind of bird I wanted while I said it and it happened.**_

All three of them were then closing their eyes, deep in thought before trying again. The best any of them could do was the grey/blue raven looking one that Lorcan made and it was barely different than the base bird they were going for. Lysander didn't even fully form a bird, and it tried to fly but fell to the ground instead of taking flight. After a few more attempts, and a bit of directing from Delilah, they were all able to make a bird and even a different color. None were as grand as the ones she had made, but still able to change the color on them, Lorcan even managing to make a plaid one, and Sam a striped one. Lysander was more than proud to be able to make a green one that was fully formed and could actually fly.

Not long after, the whole class was able to create the birds so the professor excused them, not requiring any of them to return after lunch unless they needed more assistance. Before they all left, she assigned them a foot long essay on how to conjure a bird and how to customize it. This meant any who had not yet been able to customize them, had to practice outside of class and had to turn in a customized bird with their work.

During lunch a few paper birds would fly by, signaling another student had learned how to perform Avifors, occasionally being a different color, pattern or shape. It was starting to really annoy the group. More frequently every time, one of them would fly around your head, land in the food, or something equally as obnoxious. It wasn't until one hit Delilah in the back of the head that they realized it was from the same group, the Singed Wampus Table. She could feel the anger start to boil within her. _What was their problem? Why did they keep messing with us? This needs to stop_ _ **now!**_ she thought, standing up, and then out of nowhere, all the the sheets that group had sitting next to them became phoenixes. They raised up high in the air and burst into flames, but they did not burn out. Once the flaming phoenixes started to dive right towards them, the Wampus group went running, a few getting singed before they made it out of the dining hall. Students were murmuring everywhere, some just staring slackjawed, most with a look of shock on their faces.

"DELILAH STEWARD! MY OFFICE NOW!" Professor Hindamon shouted loudly from the front of the hall before heading out of the side door behind the staff table. Everyone was dead silent and staring as she made her way to the front of the hall and through the door. Before she made it too far, she heard the whole hall erupt into conversations, everyone was surely talking about her. _So much for not being the center of attention_. Walking down the hall, she could feel that someone was following her down the hall. She dared not look, she almost didn't want to. She could guess who it was just by the feeling she got sensing he was back there. Hearing his voice from behind her just confirmed her suspicions, causing her to cringe. Headmaster Agilbert Fontaine's deep, ages old voice said, "Last door on the left."

 _Oh man am I screwed. The headmaster too! I'm gonna get kicked out for sure. This sucks, I don't even know how that happened, or if it was even me, and if it was me I couldn't control it! My parents are going to be so mad! Dang it dang it dang it,_ she thought walking the seemingly endless hallway to the open door at the end of the barely lit hallway. Once inside she saw that Professor Hindamon was pacing behind her desk, hand to her mouth, appearing to be deep in thought. There was only one chair in front of the desk so she looked behind her to see where he would sit. The Headmaster walked in and closed the door, sitting in a chair that just appeared out of nowhere just within the door. Professor Hindamon spoke making Delilah jump, "Please, sit."

She did as she was told and shrunk down in the seat. She was scared and didn't want to be kicked out of school. She sat there quietly, shaking a bit from the nerves and couldn't get them to stop. A single tear escaped her eye and she wiped it away quickly before Professor Hindamon could sit down and look at her. She sat there a minute, just looking at Delilah who refused to meet her eyes, she kept her eyes glued to the desk before her. She could not bare to look into her eyes and see disappointment.

"You do not need to be frightened Delilah, you are not getting expelled," the Headmaster said, making her jump again. How did he know she was scared? He could not even see her in the high backed chair she was currently occupying. It was exactly what she needed to hear right then for her to relax though, giving her the courage to look at Professor Hindamon. She was surprised when she saw a look of awe on her face instead of one of fury.

"Don't worry Miss Steward, you are still getting detention for what you did, but I asked you back here so we could have a little chat," she said. She continued obviously seeing the look of confusion on her face. "You do realize that _that_ was you, right?"

She didn't have to ask what _that_ was. She knew. She was talking about the Phoenixes. She couldn't trust herself to speak yet so she just nodded.

"Do you understand what happened?"

She just shook her head, tears starting to gather in her eyes. How could she? She didn't even want to believe it was her who did it. _How could that happen?_

"We believe you are capable of performing wandless magic," the headmaster said from behind her, causing her to jump once more. You would think she would remember that he was back there but she kept forgetting, he was being awfully quiet. "and must be quite adept in doing so considering you were able to do transfiguration without your wand. Not many are capable of accomplishing that with as much precision as you had just displayed back there."

"A….uh….um...what?" was all she could muster.

"Wandless magic," he said, coming to stand beside Professor Hindamon. "You know, someone who can do magic without a wand?"

"Oh," was all she could say. _What were they trying to say?_

"You have shown a great deal of power just today, more than anyone at your skill level should be able to perform," Professor Hindamon said. "I was not lying when I said what you had accomplished in class today was impressive. I have never seen anyone your age accomplish what you did in that classroom, let alone what you did in the dining hall."

"We were just speaking of your accomplishments in class today just before your little display," the Headmaster, a bit of a smile spreading on his face. "I must agree with your professor on both accounts, that amount of power at your age and skill level is quite impressive. I too am able to perform wandless magic, but that had taken decades to accomplish and I am still not able to perform at the level you did just there."

 _Great, I'm some sort of freak of magic_ , she thought. _And I can't even control it. I'm gonna be spending the rest of my life out of control. Well this could be damaging._

"Not to worry Delilah. We can teach you how to hone your skill and how to control it. You will not be spending the rest of your life out of control," the Headmaster said, plucking the thoughts out of her head, a small trace of a smile on his face. _How was he doing that?_ "Once you are settled within your classes, I would like for you to come and have sessions with me so I may teach you first and foremost how to control it and then how to hone it. Now, I made sure that a plate of food was set aside for you, no one is in the dining hall as of now. If you would like, you may go back in there and eat your meal. Though I'm sure you would prefer the secluded reading nook just to the left of the entrance to the hallway you took to get here. There will be a short hallway there, it's just down there on the left."

She walked back to the dining hall, noting where the hallway the Headmaster had spoken of was. The headmaster had been right, there was no one left in the hall. How could he have known that? She grabbed the plate sitting on the teachers' table and went to go eat in the nook, contemplating all that she had just heard. _How could this be possible? I'm just ordinary?_

When she returned to the common room much later, the others were waiting in their usual couches by the fire. As she walked in they all waved for her to come over, she knew she was not going to be able to escape this so she walked over to get it over with.

"All I ask is that you guys atleast take turns asking questions, and only one at a time please," she said, visibly tensing thinking about the interrogation that was about to happen.

"The only thing we want to know is if you are ok?" Sam said, compassion in her eyes.

It was a relief that they were not going to bombard her with questions. They had obviously told all the others to leave her alone because although many were staring, they were all keeping their distance. _I guess that could be fear too,_ she thought. Ignoring their stares, she turned back to her friends and said, "Yeah, I'm fine. I have detention both free periods next week but other than that I'm good."

And she meant it. In that time she had taken just sitting in that nook, nibbling on that food, she had gotten over the initial shock of it all and had actually started getting excited about the prospect of it all. Plus the fact that she had three amazing friends who knew exactly what she needed in that moment and it filled her with happiness.

"I am exhausted though," she said and said her farewells as she hauled herself into bed, throwing her bag down on her trunk on the way down. She pulled the curtains closed and fell right asleep. She fell into a fitful sleep, dreaming that she and Lia had been in war, fighting against each other.


	12. Stare With Me Into The Stars

Delilah was the last one out of bed that morning and she still felt exhausted. She had tossed and turned all night, occasionally waking up covered in sweat. As if that had not been enough, she had woken up flooded with a feeling of dread. She rolled out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom to assess the damage. Looking into the mirror, she almost frightened herself. Her hair was a giant mess, she had dark circles under her eyes, and her eyes were bloodshot. She shook her head at her reflection and hopped in the shower.

 _Man those shower heads really are magic,_ she thought seeing the improvement when she got out, even the dark circles were gone. She passed Sam on the way out, who was mumbling some sort of greeting on her way in. Delilah chuckled thinking that she would be back to human as soon as she was out of the shower. She finished getting ready and realized she was not yet ready to leave the dorm and face her fellow classmates.

She crawled into one of the window nooks in the dorm and shut the curtains around herself, shielding her from the outside world. She was not quite ready to deal with the staring or whispers yet. She grabbed a book off the shelf and hid in the nook, getting comfy. Shoot, she may even skip breakfast altogether so she didn't have to deal with any of it before class.

She had heard all the girls leave the dorm room but did not want to peek out. She was happy no one had disturbed her yet. Once it was all quiet again and she was sure everyone had headed down for breakfast, she dared a peek out. She didn't see anyone so she crawled out of her hiding space. She laid down on her bed and munched on a bit of candy. _Gross a worm flavored jelly bean. Why in the world would they make these?_ Quickly she found a major flaw in her plan, she was starving and could not make it through to lunch without eating some real food. She should not have skipped dinner the night before.

Just then, a pretty peacock flew into the room and once it landed on her bed, it unfolded to reveal a note written in Lysander's handwriting.

 _ **Everyone is gone.**_

 _ **You don't have to hide up there.**_

 _ **I got you some food.**_

Once she read it, it folded back into a peacock, though this time it was stationary. She picked it up and set it on her nightstand. She knew that handwriting. She sneaked down to the common room and saw that it was indeed empty. Only once she was out in the open did she see Lorcan sitting in one of the nooks she couldn't see into at first. He was reading a book, a small plate of food sitting before him.

"I figured you would want to avoid the crowds, so I grabbed you a plate of food. Didn't want you to go hungry," he said without even looking up from his book. "Candy sure isn't going to do anything but make you sick."

She joined him in the nook and started eating the food he got for her, while he just continuing to read his book. When she was done, she turned to him and gave him a hug, only then did he put down his book. "Thank you, you don't really know how much that means to me. And nice haiku by the way. You said just the right magic words."

"Happy coincidence," he said with a smile that said he was lying. "I just imagined how I would feel in the situation and figured you were feeling the same. I waited for you to come down but when Sam told me you weren't leaving the dorm, I went with them down to the dining hall. I got some food for both of us and came back here to see if you would come down. I already ate mine and almost left to head to class. I thought you may have already went there, but decided I should try that nifty spell we just learned to see if you were up there. We should get going though, wouldn't want to be late to your first day of Defense would you? That wouldn't set too good of an impression."

She just shook her head and laughed, "Haven't had too great of a track record with any of the the teachers yet, might as well not add another one to that list."

They gathered their bags and headed to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Everyone was already in class, and everyone went quiet as soon as she walked in. Embarrassed, she quickly went to join the others at the table. She was between Sam and Lysander again, Lorcan on the other side of Sam creating a Scamander defense bubble.

 _ **Ly-**_ _ **There's no need to be embarrassed, they are just jealous. They all wish they could be half a awesome as you are.**_

She gave Lysander a thankful smile and grabbed her supplies out of her book as Professor Lovejoy came in the room, thankfully taking the spotlight off of her.

"Welcome First Years to Beginners Defense Against the Dark Arts. This may very well be the most important class you will ever be in, as it could be to only difference between living and dying. I say this not to scare you, but to put into perspective the importance of this class and why you should take this class very seriously. Now today we will be going over the fundamentals of defense. If you would please take out your book and follow along with me."

This was not like History of Magic where Miss Klootz would just read from the book. Lovegood explained the basics of defense (Protect yourself, stay calm, and only attack when necessary) with such flair you couldn't help but be sucked into his lectures.

"Alright, now that we got that out of the way, I will be showing you all how to handle Imps, the nasty little buggers," he said as he pulled out a small birdcage full of little wingless fairies. "Though rather harmless, they can be a pest and can infest your house if not properly disposed of. There are three ways to get rid of them."

Before he could go over the options, the Imps had started throwing bits of paper they had ripped off his desk at him and the students in the front row.

 _ **Ly- For such little creatures, they sure do have quite the arms on them. I bet you're glad we weren't in the front seat now huh?**_

Sam just laughed as she continued to take notes on what Professor Lovejoy was saying. He was now going over the ways to get rid of the Imps.

 _ **D- Imps like to throw things**_

 _ **Give them a bit of karma**_

 _ **Beat em and boot em**_

 _ **Let the Gnomes deal with them**_

 _ **Ly- The only good thing about gnomes**_

 _ **Then beat and boot em too**_

Delilah chuckled at what Lysander had added to her notes and shook her head.

 _ **Ly- I like the way you take notes. Quite humorous but to the point.**_

 _ **D- I noticed it helps me retain it. I find it funny so my mind holds onto it better because it now has feeling attached to it.**_

 _ **Ly- Intriguing. I may have to give your idea a try. Any other study tips you may have?**_

 _ **D- Yeah, actually paying attention to class usually helps.**_

Getting the hint, Lysander went back to focusing on the class and taking notes. Part way through the lecture, the Imps found out how to escape and hid all over the classroom, occasionally throwing things at the students from the tops of shelves. It had taken the whole second part of class to find them all and put them back. They only had a few minutes left of class at this point so Lovejoy excused the students for lunch.

After lunch, they figured they would not need their telescopes until later tonight, and they already had their books, so they skipped the trip back to the dorms. The four of them headed up the tallest tower to the astrology classroom which was one floor below the observatory. The classroom was large and had individual desks circling the center of the classroom that just had a barstool and small tall table. There were no windows and the ceiling had been charmed to mimic the night sky, the only source of light was now coming from an overly enlarged moon that was almost full. It was still rather bright in there and the four of them had no issues making it through the classroom.

The four of them settled with four seats in a parallelogram formation in the outer ring of the class, otherwise they would have been spread too far apart. Delilah surprisingly chose one of the back seats.

"Wow, look at you, you rebel without a cause," Lysander said giving her an approving smile before taking the seat next to her. "Sitting where the cool kids do."

"I only want this spot because it's obvious we are going to have to be looking at the ceiling and I would prefer to not have to break my neck to do so," she said, a bit of sass present in her tone. "It's not like I want to sit by you, it's just the logical choice."

"Oh you wound me!" Lysander said pretending to have been stabbed in the chest. "I don't think I'll survive this one. Here I thought maybe we were friends and then you go and stab me in the heart. Shame on you!"

"My goodness, drama queen much?" Sam said from the seat in front of her.

"Double attack! Whatever did I do to deserve such betrayal?" he said, now acting like he was dying in his seat. They were saved from any further horrible acting by the Professor entering the classroom.

She walked in dressed like a hippy wearing a long flowy dress and long grey hair that hung in a loose braid down to her thighs. She had more rings than fingers and a stack of various bracelets on both wrists. Around her neck, she wore glasses hanging on a beaded chain and a single long leather cord with a wire wrapped white crystal hanging at the bottom, it seemed to be glowing a bit. She still looked young and vibrant, but her hair gave away the fact that she was much older than she looked.

She seemed to float as she made her way to the center of the room, an air of grace and fluidity present in her every step. The only sign that she was walking was the faint jingle of what must have been one of those belly dancer anklets. She was barefoot so other than the soft jingle of her anklet, you could not hear her steps, every step as light as air. She sat down on the seat and instantly had everyone's attention without even having to make a sound. She set her wand, a small stack of papers, and a glass of water onto the small table next to her.

She must have thought it too bright in the room because she picked up her wand, pointed it up to the moon, and pushed her wand towards the ceiling. The moon shrunk to half its size allowing for more stars to be seen and for the room to dim just enough that everyone could still see. She set her wand down and took a sip of her water before speaking. Her voice was soft and low with a bit of a rasp to it, but somehow it managed to reach even Delilah in the far row.

"Welcome, welcome. I am so very pleased to welcome you all to first year Astronomy. My name is Iris Marici and I will be your instructor for this course. You may call me Iris, or Miss Marici if you would prefer to be formal. I am not a professor, just a divine reader of all sorts, but for this course we shall stick to the stars. These here are your star charts. You will need them for lessons so please make sure to bring them to every class. Please grab your quills and ink and we shall begin our lesson."

She had picked up her wand again, this time a stack of large scrolls floated through the air, dispersing to all of the students. Each scroll had a star patterned ribbon tying them closed. Delilah unrolled hers to find that there were many charts in there, all of which were fairly blank other than a single star, the north star she presumed. It looked like they were going to have to fill them all out, their only guide being the stars themselves.

"First we will learn to locate the planets of our universe and track their movements, so if you could please open your scrolls and prepare to document the locations of the planets as I show you them on the ceiling."

She used movements of her wand to enlarge, shrink, and move what was being projected on the ceiling to show them the locations. When she twisted her wand like a dial, the stars would move across the ceiling as if someone had fast forwarded and rewound the sky, allowing the students to track the planets' trajectories. It took all period but by time they were excused for dinner, they had mapped out all of the planets and their paths. When they returned that night after dinner and their long break, they would be finding the planets in the real nights sky through their telescopes.

Since it was a lovely evening, the four of them decided to hang out on the grounds after dinner. They had already gathered their telescopes and were now hanging out under a large tree. The leaves had started to fall and the ground was covered with them so they all started to gather them up into big piles. As soon as the pile was big enough to hide them all, Lysander picked up Delilah and threw her in.

She screamed as she was tossed in and struggled to try to make it out. Before she could even peek out, Sam screamed, having being thrown in right next to her by Lorcan. A few thumps later and the boys had jumped in themselves. As she was trying to crawl out, a pair of hands pulled her right back in. As she finally escaped, hair and clothes full of leaves, she plopped down on the now leafless ground and caught her breath. The other three followed not long after and they all just laughed as the girls threw leaves at the boys.

"Now look at us! We look like we got swept up in a tornado!" Sam shouted as she threw another handful of crunchy leaves at the boys, laughing despite her annoyance. She started picking all the leaves off of her as she turned to the boys saying, "I swear you guys are a pain in my butt. Quite literally too seeing as how I landed on my butt in there."

They laughed as they all cleared themselves of leaves and got ready to head back to Astronomy. It was starting to get dark and class would be starting soon, so they gathered up their stuff and headed inside. Once inside, they dropped their bags in the classroom, grabbing their charts they had just filled out and their telescope before heading up the stairs to the observatory. It really was quite amazing up there now that the sun had gone down. The stars and moon shined brightly through the glass dome ceiling, illuminating the whole room.

They all began setting up their telescopes as the rest of the students filed in. Delilah was having issues getting her tripod to unfold so after Lorcan set up his he came over to help her set up hers.

"Wow, I like your telescope. It's very pretty, and I see it matches your wand. Very nice," he said struggling a bit to unfold one of the tripod legs. "there ya go, should be easier to set up now that the legs are loosened a bit. If they start to collapse on you, just tighten these dials here."

"Thanks Lorcan," she said with a smile. "You're the best."

He smiled and blushed a bit as he grabbed cushions for them all from the cabinet and returned to his telescope, peeking into it to look at the stars. Delilah did the same and as she searched the sky, she saw a shooting star.

"Wow did you see that?" she asked trying to look for more. "I just saw a shooting star!"

"Don't forget to make a wish!" Lysander said giving her a wink, still struggling to set up his telescope. "And you don't have to wish for a devilishly handsome hunk cause I'm right here!"

"Oh geeze, if your head was any bigger it wouldn't fit in the room," Sam said as she playfully hit him in the arm. "Alright Casanova, you got that handled or do you need some help. Too?

Together they got his telescope set up just in time before Miss Marici walked into the room. She didn't have anything with her but her wand. She did not need charts to find any star and would be spending her time helping students find what they needed to find, so she would not need her own telescope. Eventually they all found the planets they were looking for, most needing a bit of help from Miss Marici. Class ended just before eleven and they were all sluggishly gathering their supplies.

"You may all leave your telescopes here in the closet marked 'First Years' that way you will not have to tote it to and from class each week. Now before you return next week I would like a foot long essay describing the locations of each of the planets and their movements. You'll need your charts to do your work so make sure to bring them with you. I hope you enjoyed your first week of class and I also hope you enjoy your weekend. Thank you all, class dismissed,"

Delilah was so exhausted by the time they reached the common room, she said goodnight quickly and headed straight to the dorms. She emptied her bag since she wouldn't need it all weekend and grabbed her wand to put it away. Opening the drawer in her nightstand, she saw the letters in there that she had not read yet. It was too late and she was much too brain dead to get to them, so she shut her drawer and crawled into bed, shutting her curtains tight. She definitely did not want to be up with the sun tomorrow.


	13. As Luck Wouldn't Have It

The first sign that today was not going to be a good day is when Delilah woke up woke up with the sun the next morning. Somehow her curtains were cracked open and the sun streamed in onto her face. Knowing there was no way she would be going back to sleep, she begrudgingly threw open her curtains and hoped the magical shower would fix her right up. Everything was going smoothly until she slipped on. some soap and toppled over. She had landed on her arm and it was not looking or feeling too great. She was afraid to look at it, it hurt too bad. When she finally scrounged up enough courage to look, she saw it was bent at a weird angle and was most definitely broken. _Yay! First week of school and I already broke my arm._

She gently wrapped her arm and self in a towel and left the bathroom, holding her arm in her hand. As carefully as she could, she pulled open Sam's curtains and woke her "I'm gonna need you to help me get dressed. I just broke my arm and can't do it myself."

"Geeze what time is it?" she asked still half asleep and not comprehending what she just said. Seeing the pained look on her face and seeing her cradle her arm she jumped up, it finally clicked. "Oh crap, are you OK? What happened?"

"I slipped in the shower," she said embarrassingly, blushing profusely. "Can you help me get dressed so I don't have to go down to the healer's ward in a towel?"

"Oh, yeah, of course," she said jumping out of bed and grabbing some sweats and a t-shirt from the closet. "Here sit down and gimme your legs so I can get these on."

Sam very carefully managed to help her get dressed without causing her too much pain and helped her put on her slippers and her winter cloak around her shoulders to keep her warm. They entered the common room and like every other morning, Lorcan was already down there. _Does he ever sleep?_

"What happened?" he asked obviously seeing she was in pain.

"Oh you know, slipped on some soap in the shower and broke her arm," she said chuckling a bit. "No biggie, just gonna make sure she gets to the healer's ward without slipping on a banana peel or something."

Delilah was sure she was going to find this funny at some point but she did not find it at all funny now, she was in too much pain. "If you all are done laughing at my misfortune, I'd really like to get going so I may rectify this situation."

"Sorry Delilah, let's get going," she said looking a bit ashamed. "You gotta admit it _was_ quite funny."

Delilah just grumbled in response and walked over to the portrait hole, waiting for Sam to open it for her. "Mmhmm. Sooo funny."

"I'm gonna wait for Lysander so he doesn't come down to all of us gone. I'll come check in on you once you are all settled in," Lorcan said before she left. "I hope you are feeling better soon!"

"You see, that's how a good friend handles when their friend is in pain, not by making fun of them," Delilah grumbled. "It's not nice to laugh at someone's misfortunes."

"I'm sorry Delilah, I promise I'll be a better friend from now on," she said, amusement in her tone. "Just figured you could use a laugh. They say laughter is the best medicine."

Delilah didn't respond to that and they continued in silence all the way to the healer's ward. Sam relayed what happened, leaving the jokes in the dorm room, all serious now. Miss Dugood said she could fix it and forewarned her that it was going to hurt, but that it would be over quickly.

"Brackium Emendo," she said waving her wand over the break. There was a snap, crackle, pop, and a whole lot of pain, but it was repaired instantly. "Now I'm gonna keep you here for the day to make sure it heals properly."

With a groan she hopped into the bed she was directed into and laid back, a grumpy look on her face, "yay, just what I want to do on my first fully free day at Wizarding school. I get to sit in an empty room and do nothing."

Sam stayed for a bit to make sure she was OK and then headed out, saying she wanted to make sure the boys knew she was OK and promised to be back in a little while so she could get some homework done. She also promised to have Lorcan bring her her homework when he came to visit. So she sat there counting the dots on the ceiling until Lorcan showed up a bit later. It was still pretty early so Lysander was probably not up yet.

He walked in carrying some food from breakfast, her homework, and a small bouquet of freshly picked flowers. "Hey, I hope you are feeling better now, Sam said Miss Dugood patched you right up. I figured you'd be hungry so I grabbed you some food and Sam told me to bring you your homework so here's that. There wasn't really anywhere I could buy you a get well balloon or anything so I just went out and picked you some flowers. I know they're nothing fancy or anything, but they smell nice."

"Aww thanks Lorcan, your the best," she said to him for the second time in 12 hours, smelling the flowers he brought her. "And the flowers are lovely. Thank you."

"Good, I'm glad" he said blushing a bit. "Well are you feeling better? Is your arm OK?"

"Yeah, right as rain," she said smiling. "Now if only Miss Dugood would set me free I would be just peachy, but she's gonna keep me locked up in here all day."

"Well that sucks, but I'm glad you're doing ok." he said with a smile. "You look much better, you weren't looking too great before, not that you don't look good. I mean, you looked like you were in a lot of pain, so I'm glad that you're not now."

Delilah blushed a bit and responded, "Thanks. Yeah, I'm feeling much better. Especially since I now have some food and my homework to keep me occupied. Thanks again for that!"

"Yeah, no problem. Well I better get going so you can eat and hopefully get some rest, you couldn't have gotten much sleep. I hope you feel better." he said as he was walking out of the room. She didn't comment on the fact that he hadn't either, but just shrugged and smelled her flowers again.

Miss Dugood had walked back in to check on her right as Lorcan was walking out. Seeing the flowers he brought her, she brought over a tall glass of water to put them in. She poked and prodded her arm which was still feeling quite tender. Noticing her wince, she gave her a potion to help with the pain and then left again. _Maybe she had a point, that still hurts pretty bad._

Delilah hadn't realized how hungry she was until she got a whiff of the delicious food he had brought her. She scarfed it down quickly, smelled her flowers again, and got started on her homework. She was going to be in here a while, might as well make use of the quiet.

She had just finished her homework and the lunch Miss Dugood have brought in for her when Sam and the boys came to visit. They sat around and chatted for a while when Miss Dugood came in to check on her arm again. Seeing that it was pretty much healed, she put some bruise salve on her arm and sent her on her way.

"Freedom! At last!" Delilah yelled as she ran for the door, the other 3 chasing after her. She ran straight out the front doors and out into the sunshine she had been staring at longingly through the window in the ward. The sun felt so good she threw her arms out and spun around.

"You would think you just spent 10 years in Azkaban," Lysander said with a smile, amused by her behavior. "Not 6 hours in the infirmary."

"You try being locked in an empty room with nothing but homework to keep you company," she said sticking her tongue out at him.

"Hey!" Lorcan and Sam shouted together.

"What are we? Chopped toadstool?" Sam said with a smile.

Delilah just laughed as she threw herself into what was left of the leaf pile they had gathered yesterday. She was acting like a child but she didn't care! She was free, her arm was healed, and she didn't have to be stuck with a cast for months! How could she not be happy?

The leaves around her started floating around creating a lazy whirlwind around her. The other three did not know what to do so Sam just said, "Hey, Delilah?"

Once she opened her eyes and looked around she saw what she was doing and the leaves just fell. _Maybe I should take some lessons from the Headmaster._

After her little episode, they spent the rest of the afternoon outside in the sun, as demanded by Delilah. She couldn't bare the thought of wasting such a good day inside. They wandered the grounds a bit and ended up at the edge of the lake. It was already too cold for them to jump in so they just sat on the dock, feet in the water.

Out of nowhere Sam shrieked and jumped up, "something just touched my feet!"

"My goodness you just about gave me a heart attack! It was just a fish probably! Sit back down before you fall in!" Delilah said laughing. "You big scaredy cat!"

"I will come sit back down but I am **Not** putting my feet back in the water. That was no fish touching my foot. It felt like a hand to me!"

"Oh geeze, you must be imagining things!" Lysander said laughing at her. You don't have to sit so far from the water it's not like something's gonna jump out and grab you, you big baby!"

Right as he said that something did jump out and grab Delilah, dragging her in. They all jumped up and started searching the water for her. The boys started taking off their clothes to jump on after her when her head popped back up out of the water, she was laughing. She swam over to the dock to climb out, still laughing and had finally gotten back on the dock with help from the boys.

"What in merlin's beard happened?" Lorcan demanded taking off his robe and wrapping it around her. "This isn't funny you could have drowned!"

He had just finished his question when a second head popped up and splashed them. It was a pretty woman with fish like features and gills on her neck. She had pale green skin, turquoise colored hair, and bright purple eyes. They could only see from her collar bone up but then shortly after she laid back and you could see she had a tail.

"Holy merlin it's a mermaid!" Lysander said, jaw dropped open.

"I told you it wasn't a fish!" Sam said, "well not really! Do you consider yourself a fish? Or wait can you even understand me?"

The mermaid just smiled and nodded her head, signaling she understood her, but she didn't say anything.

"I read in a book somewhere that mermaids can't talk out of water." Lorcan said. "But It also said that their voices are quite beautiful."

"Yeah it is, she talked to me when I was down there," Delilah said. "It's the same one I had seen when we first got here. I also saw her before we got off the boat."

"Wow cool!" Lysander said. He turned to the mermaid and asked, "are there more of you down there?"

The mermaid just shook her head, looking awfully sad.

"That must be lonely," Sam said, sounding a bit sad herself.

The mermaid just shook her head no, pointed one finger indicating one, pointed at them, signaling humans, waved her webbed hands like she was swimming, and then pointed to herself.

"Someone comes to swim with you?" Lorcan asked.

She nodded her head in agreement, a big smile on her face.

"Must be that one girl who asked if she could swim in the lake," Delilah said.

It was about dinner time so they said farewell to the mermaid and headed in to eat. Delilah ran up to the room to get changed since she was soaking wet. After changing she reached into her drawer to grab a piece of candy to get enough energy to make it to the dining hall to eat and then remembered her letters. She took them out and put them on her bed so she wouldn't forget to read them.

She ran back downstairs and got there just in time to grab a plate of food before it disappeared. Seeing as how they were all a bit cold from having spent the evening by the lake they all returned to the common room to sit in the couches by the fire. Lysander set out to finish his homework since he wasn't quite done yet and Sam and Lorcan started a game of wizard chess. Delilah took the opportunity to go up to her room and read her letters. She had put it off long enough, and didn't want to forget about them again. Entering her dorm she plopped onto the bed and started to read her letters.

 _ **My dearest Delilah,**_

 _ **I'm sorry to hear that you have not been off to a good start. I hope the rest of your week went smoother. How are you liking your classes so far? Have you made any other friends?**_

 _ **Speaking of friends, Lia seems to be a bit down. I don't think she's handling you being gone too well. I've seen her going out to use your hammock more and more as the days go on. I really think she misses you, as we all do.**_

 _ **I hope you are keeping up with your schoolwork and that you are paying attention in class.**_

 _ **Well I won't keep you long, I'm sure you're busy.**_

 _ **I love and miss you!**_

 _ **Mom**_

 _ **Hey,**_

 _ **Sorry school hasn't been going so well. Hopefully it's getting better. I do miss you, but it's all good. I can imagine Wizarding school would be hard and time consuming. I hope you are enjoying it though.**_

 _ **I've been using your hammock quite a bit. It really is a perfect getaway and it reminds me of you. I start school next week so that's cool I guess. It's going to be crazy to go back without you!**_

 _ **Well, I won't take up any more of your time.**_

 _ **Lia**_

 _ **Hey honey,**_

 _ **I hope you are doing much better now. We all miss you so much here but I hope you are having a blast! I'll keep this short! Keep doing good and I can't wait to hear all about it!**_

 _ **Love you!**_

 _ **Dad**_

Thinking it would save time, paper, and energy, she wrote back to them in one big letter. She had a whole week of events to go over and it would make sense to condense them into one long letter. Plus they all pretty much all said the same thing anyways. Except for mom, but that's to be expected.

 _ **Hey guys**_

 _ **Sorry it took so long to write back again. The first week has been pretty hectic. I've had to do a lot of writing this week so I hope you don't mind me just writing one big letter. If the first week is any predictor of the weeks to come, I'll have my work cut out for me. Well I guess I can go over my week. It started off rather rough.**_

 _ **On the first day, our potion blew up in Potions class, we were making a cure for boils. At Least we walked away with all of our hair. Another group wasn't so lucky. Then there was a flobberworm fight in Care of Magical Creatures. A flobberworm is basically a slug on steroids. We were supposed to be milking them of their mucus *gag* and then things got out of hand. Needless to say, we all walked out of there slimy.**_

 _ **On the next day we had History of Magic. Can we say snooze fest? The teacher Miss Gracie Klootz (get this she's quite a clutz) just read from the book. I'll have a hard time paying attention in that class. And don't worry mom, I'll make sure to pay attention and get good grades. After that we have Transfiguration which was kinda boring since we didn't really do anything other than learn the basics but the next class we had for Transfiguration was really cool, but I'll get back to that.**_

 _ **Wednesday, we have Potions again and Herbology. Potions went great this time. We made a herbicide that was the best in the class. We then got to use it in the Herbology class and it worked wonders. We were cleaning out the greenhouse to prep it for the year and let me tell you, it was a disaster. There were these plants called devil's snare that were quite a pain. If you weren't carefully they would snatch you up and squeeze you tight. You only had to relax in order to get them to let go but I assume it wouldn't be easy to not panic. One boy had to be sent to the nurses ward. But the rest of us made it out mostly unscathed.**_

 _ **Thursday was History of Magic again (snoozeville) but in Transfiguration we learned how to do a spell called Avifors that turns anything into a bird. I was able to produce a whole flock of parrots and a Phoenix that even caught fire! It didn't damage anything but surely impressed my teacher!**_

 _ **During lunch that day I had another slip up. I got real angry because a group of kids were picking on us and out of nowhere a flock of paper Phoenixes chased the group out of the dining hall. Don't worry, I didn't get into too much trouble, just a couple detentions. And I know mom, I should be behaving but I couldn't help it. I tried to not get so mad but they were being really mean. Well as a result I had to go speak with my Head of House (who I'd also my transfiguration teacher) and Headmaster.**_

 _ **I thought I was going to get kicked out for sure, but they just informed me that I had a special ability of wandless magic. That's right. I can do magic without a wand. That's how I have been able to produce magic and move things without a wand. My headmaster can do it too and he's going to give me lessons help me control and hone my ability.**_

 _ **Well, back to my week. On Friday we had Defense Against the Dark Arts and Astronomy. In Defense we learned about how to handle Imps. They are mostly harmless, though quite a pain. They somehow escaped so we spent half the class trying to wrangle them up. Astronomy, although cool, had nothing too exciting going on. We located the planets and traced their movements. Then once it got dark we found them in the real nights sky.**_

 _ **Well that was my school week. I'm curious to see what next week brings. Oh and I guess I should tell you, though it's really no big deal since it's all good now, but I broke my arm today. Slipped in the stupid shower, but don't worry mom. Miss Dugood patched me right up with a repair spell and a potion for the pain. I'm right as rain already.**_

 _ **Oh and I got to swim with a mermaid today. Well more like she pulled me into the water. We were hanging out on the dock on the lake and she thought it would be funny to drag me in. She's really sweet but I think kind of lonely. She's the only mermaid in the lake, but she said she made friends with another student who goes for swims in the lake. We will make sure to visit her too so she doesn't get too lonely.**_

 _ **Well that's about it. And don't worry I am doing good in classes and for the most part staying out of trouble and being safe. If the next few weeks are as busy as this one, I might not be able to write very often, but I'll try my best! I really do miss you all and am starting to feel a bit homesick.**_

 _ **Love and miss you all!**_

 _ **Delilah**_

Luna wasn't back yet so she tied up her letter, set it in her cage, and made sure to leave her a treat. Once she was done putting her stuff away, she went back downstairs to hang out with the others. Entering the common room, she found the other three playing a game of Exploding Snap so she joined in and they spent the next couple hours playing that. When she was too tired to keep her eyes open she went upstairs and went to bed.


	14. The Beginnings

In the morning Delilah woke up rather late since she did not sleep very well, she had a pretty bad dream. All she could remember was being trapped in a dark tunnel. She opened her curtains to see that everyone else was still sleeping. Seeing as how they hadn't come to bed until she had long fallen asleep, she wasn't surprised. Luna was waiting with a letter from home, obviously waiting for her treat. As soon as she gave her a treat she flew out the window. She laid back down on her bed and read her letter.

 _ **Dearest Delilah,**_

 _ **Sorry it will just be me writing back. Your father is away on business and Lia hasn't been around much the last few days. She must be getting ready for school.**_

 _ **It sounds like you have been having a wonderful time. I would prefer it if you weren't getting in trouble, but it seems like it was a bit out of your control. Do take your headmaster up on the offer for lessons. I would hate for something really bad to happen. And I hope you were not involved in the flobberworm fight, and I**_ _ **definitely**_ _**hope you weren't involved in starting it!**_

 _ **I'm so sorry that you broke your arm. I do hope that it is feeling better. It must be nice to not have to be stuck in a cast. I broke my arm once and hated the cast. It was so itchy!**_

 _ **I am proud that you have been able to accomplish so much! Keep up the good work! And make sure to pay attention in class, even history. Just because it's boring doesn't mean it won't be useful.**_

 _ **And make sure to stay safe. The Wizarding world is full of all kinds of dangerous creatures and I would hate for you to get hurt. So make sure to listen to your teachers and don't do anything you know you aren't supposed to be doing.**_

 _ **I understand that you are busy, so no need to hurry or even write back if you don't have time. I would always be nice to hear from you but I would not want our letters to come before school. Keep me informed though! I always want to know how my baby is doing!**_

 _ **I love and miss you more than you know!**_

 _ **Mom**_

 _ **P. S. I sent some of my cookies for you hopefully that will help with the homesickness.**_

Delilah was a bit disappointed that only her mother had written back but she understood that they were probably just as busy as she was. She figured it wouldn't be worth making Luna fly all the way back just to deliver a thank you note so she just stashed the letter. Getting can up she noticed the box sitting on her desk that she had not seen before and could smell the cookies as she got closer. She opened the box to find a whole batch of cookies inside and knew there was no way she could or would eat that many before they went stale. So she decided to tuck away a dozen of them and the rest she was going to share with the others.

She got ready as Sam was getting up, dragging her slippers on the way to the shower. She got done just as Sam got out of the shower. Since Sam didn't take long to get ready, Delilah just waited for her to finish, offering her a cookie. Sam took 3 as she resumed getting ready. Once she was done they headed down to the common room. Lorcan was already there in their usual seats of course, Lysander probably still sleeping. She offered Lorcan the cookies and he happily took one. She set them down on the table by him hoping he'd grab some more, Sam grabbing three more the moment she set them down. _Well at least someone will eat them._

Shorty later Lysander came down and immediately grabbed four of them without asking, he at least thanked her. "So what's on the agenda today?"

"We should explore the castle," Sam said with a grin. "They showed us some of the castle but not all of it. I was noticing on the way to class that there are hallways that are not on the map they gave us."

"Is that a good idea?" Delilah asked. "Maybe they aren't on the map for a reason."

"Aw come on where's your sense of adventure?" Lysander asked, a devilish smile on his face. "Wouldn't they say not to go down those hallways if they were dangerous?"

"Unless they were thinking it would make us want to go explore them," Lorcan responded. "You know you never want to do something till you're told you can't do it."

"Oh geeze," Sam said. "Now you're over thinking it. If you're too scared to go that's fine. You can just say so. "

"Yeah come on. You're not a chicken are you?" Lysander taunted, imitating a chicken.

"Fine" Delilah said. "But if we get in trouble, I'm never speaking to either of you again."

"Are you sure?" Lorcan asked.

"Yeah I'm tired of being a scaredy cat." Delilah said. "let's do this!"

"That's the spirit!" Lysander said.

"Well shoot, I'm not going to be the only one staying," Lorcan shrugged.

"That's the spirit!" Sam exclaimed.

Delilah took a cookie and offered them to her friends; Lorcan took one more, Sam and Lysander each grabbed a handful. She went upstairs, grabbed her bag, put the cookies in along with her wand, map, a scrap of parchment, quill and ink. If they were going to explore they might as well map it. When she was certain she wouldn't need anything else, she met back up with the others downstairs and noticed Lorcan had grabbed a bag too.

"Alright Dora and Diego, you guys ready to go?" Sam said with a chuckle. "Got your backpacks packed?"

"I'd much rather be prepared than sorry," Delilah responded. "I'm sure you'll be thanking me at some point."

"Alright let's blow this popsicle stand," Lysander said heading towards the door.

They all ventured off into the castle starting on the ground floor. They went through several hallways and didn't come across much but empty classrooms which must have been for the students of other years. The closest to interesting thing they found were the portraits of Miss Frizzle and Willy Wonka. They turned down a hallway near the dining hall and came across an elf dragging a sack of potatoes larger than he was though a portrait of Chef Boyardee.

"Do you need some help with that?" Lorcan asked, running over to help without waiting for an answer. "Here let me get that for you!"

"Oh thank you very much Master…. " the elf said timidly waiting for him to fill in his name.

"My name is Lorcan, and you don't have to call me Master," he said picking up the sack. He then nodded in the others direction. "That's Sam, Delilah, and Lysander." They all waved in turn. "What's your name?"

"Adrastus," he said. "Pleasure to make your acquaintances and might I thank you immeasurably for your assistance. Mas….I mean….L..Loran you are a great man. Thank you so much! You are too kind!"

"It's really no big deal," he said, blushing a bit.

"Is there anything else we can help you with?" Delilah asked.

"Oh no, this is already too much! You have helped more than enough. Here let me get you something for being so kind. Please, please follow me this way!" Adrastus said, waving them into the portrait hole.

They followed him through a rough looking hallway to a large room. Once they stepped inside they saw that they were standing in a large kitchen full of elves. The moment they all saw the four of them, they all rushed over, introducing themselves. They then starting offering them all kinds of food, practically begging them to take something. They each grabbed a few sandwiches and some treats since it was about lunchtime and they were hungry anyways. The elves then bid them farewell, telling them they were welcome to stop by anytime. They let them know that all they had to do was poke the portraits belly, and it would open.

Walking back out to the main hallway, they went to sit down in a nearby empty classroom to eat their food. Delilah pulled out her map to start mapping the location of the kitchen when she saw Lorcan do the same. With a smile on her face she got to tracing while nibbling on her sandwich. One they were done, they continued on through the hallway but didn't find anything down that way but broom cupboards and storage closets. Heading back through the castle, they mapped the locations of each of the house towers and the empty hallways.

Finally getting the back end of the castle, they came across a library. It was ginormous and Delilah could not believe her eyes. There were more books than she had ever seen in her life, including the large collection in her common room. She wandered down the aisle ways amazed that she was still seeing more and more rows of books. Reaching the back end of of the vast room, she came across a portion of the room that was blocked off and dark. It was chained off with a large RESTRICTED sign. Her curiosity got the better of her so she ducked to go under the chain. Out of nowhere a boney hand grabbed her by the shoulder causing her to jump practically out of her skin. She spun around to find an old decrepit looking elf. _Man he was quite stealthy for his age!_

"The sign says restricted," he said in a ragged rough voice. "What makes you think you can just go in there?"

"I...I'm s..s..sorry... I didn't mean… well….I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried going in there," Delilah said, a little scared. She didn't want to lie and get in even more trouble. She had been in trouble enough as it was already.

"Stay out of there," he snapped. "And if I ever see you in there without authorization again, I will have to report you to the Headmaster!"

"Oh..ok. I promise I won't!" Delilah said, relieved. "Only these books over here. Got it!"

She spun on her heel and sped back to where her friends were waiting near the entrance. She paused quickly to map the location of the library and then rushed the others out of the room. She practically had to shove them out with all of them asking what the rush was. Once back in the hallway she relayed what had happened and they all had a nice laugh about it.

"Well, if someone is feeling adventurous," Lysander said with a wink to Delilah, "we should go explore the dungeons."

"What? No!" Lorcan said. "That is a horrible idea! Delilah already almost got in trouble. Do we really want to push it?"

"Oh come on!" Sam whined. "I totally want to go check it out. Are you scared of the dark or something?"

"No," Lorcan said indignantly. "I think that's bad idea. You don't even know what's down there!"

"That's the whole point, to find out what's down there. What's the worst that can happen?" Lysander asked. "We get told to leave and not come back?"

"I think I agree with Lysander," Delilah said, still a bit hyped after her getaway from the library. "Let's do it."

"Well you guys go on ahead. I'm not going down there. I'll be in the common room when you guys come to your senses," Lorcan said turning and taking off towards the tower. "I won't even say I told you so."

The rest of them chuckled and walked confidently down the stairway that lead to the basement. They had a class down there anyways so they could always feign leaving something in the classroom, so they walked right on down. At the bottom, they checked to see if anyone was around before heading down the hallway rushed around the first bend to make sure they wouldn't be spotted and used Lumos to light their way down the dark hallway. It seemed to not have a whole lot of doors but quite a few hallways.

Once they took a second turn, Delilah realized the hallways were set up like a maze so she made them stop every turn so she could map where they were going so they would not get lost. Down one of the hallways, they found some abandoned classrooms with furniture that appeared to be centuries old. There were even broken beakers just laying on some ancient tables. They walked through a few of them before continuing through the continued along and found creepy cobwebbed rooms that looked like they had once been dorm rooms. _Who would ever want to sleep in a place like this?_

As they were heading towards the door, they heard someone outside the door. They all froze and hid just as the person walked in the door. No one had their wands lit so they could not tell who it was.

"Guys?" they heard the person whisper.

"Lorcan?" Lysander said, standing up from behind a desk lighting his wand revealing his brother. Everyone else sighed in relief and re-lit their wands, coming out of their own hiding places.

"What are you doing down here?" Sam asked, crawling out of a wardrobe. "You scared us half to death!"

"I figured you guys could use someone with some common sense down here," Lorcan said crossing his arms. "Someone needs to make sure no one gets in trouble or hurt."

They all chuckled and shook their heads as they left the classroom. They continued down a few more hallways of classrooms and dorms when they found what appeared to be a small dining hall. Once inside, Delilah started to get a weird feeling. It felt like something was pulling her from deep inside towards one of the hallways.

"Do you guys feel that?" Delilah asked, paused outside the hallway she was feeling pulled towards.

They all gave her a weird look, obviously feeling nothing.

"I have this feeling deep in my bones to go this way," she said, pointing down a hallway, starting to feel anxious. "It doesn't feel bad or anything, more like I am meant to go this way."

"Is that a good idea?" Lorcan asked.

"Yeah that sounds a bit like a scary movie to me," Sam agreed.

"Sorry Dee, I think I have to agree with them," Lysander said, sounding very uneasy. "This place is creepy enough without you saying even creepier stuff like that."

"I have to go guys," Delilah said before walking down the hallway. She didn't even wait for them to respond, she had to go. She could hear them chase after her, all agreeing they could not let her go alone. She went down a couple more hallways, still roughly mapping her progress so they would not get lost. Climbing a pair of stairs at the end of the hallway she was face to face with a door. Everything inside of her told her she needed to go inside. "This is it."

After a few moments pause, they all eagerly said, "open it already then!"

She slowly reached her hand out and right before she touched the door she had a flash of a family of six. Two parents, two boys in their preteens and two twin babies. Her heart filled with the feeling of home as the scene passed before her eyes. They family was just sitting around a fire, enjoying each other's company, the boys playing with the children on the floor as the parents were seated in chairs, the mom knitting, the father smoking a pipe. It seemed to be from centuries ago, all the furniture matching the ones in the dorms and classrooms they had passed on the way there.

"Come on!" Lysander exclaimed. "The suspense is killing me!"

Shaking the scene away, she grasped the handle and opened the door. What she saw inside was the same room as in the vision she just had, except now it was ages old and covered in a thick layer of dust, the family having been long gone. Man she was going to have to remember that, but right now that feeling was drawing her inside. Everyone else followed her in and starting looking at various things in the room but she was drawn to a chest at the foot of an aged bunk bed. She kneeled down to open it but it was locked. Remembering how her father unlocked the chest that was now hers, she picked up her wand and tapped the chest three times. The locks popped open and the chest cracked open.

"Holy Merlin!" Sam exclaimed "How did you do that?"

Delilah didn't answer, she couldn't, the call of what was inside the chest was more than she could resist. She slowly opened it to find a cloak, book, wand, and a ring on a chain. The book and the wand was what was calling to her so she picked them both up, examining them both. The wand was buzzing in her hand quite similar to the one she had gotten from Zonkos except stronger. This wand was meant to be in her hands, no one else was ever meant to be in possession of it. Carved in the handle was a snake winding around it, a red jewel centered on its head. It looked just like the Horned Serpent. It was beautiful and she couldn't stop looking at it, but then she the call of the book drew her attention to it.

At this point everyone had stopped what they were doing and were watching her intently to see what had caught her attention Setting the wand aside, she opened the book. Right on the first page was a family tree. In the trunk was the name Steward. She gasped as she saw her last name, the others asking what was going on.

"It's a family tree," She said. "It has my last name written on the trunk. I think this is my family tree."

"How do you know? There are a lot of Stewards out there," Lysander asked.

"I can just feel it," she said tracing the names to the outer branches. Most of the branches died out long before reaching the outer edge, but a few made it there, but only one branch extended out to the outest most edge, and it was there at the end that she saw her name, tracing it back a bit she saw her parents', and her father's siblings', then one more layer in her grandparents'. "Oh my goodness….it is…"

She shoved the book at her friends as she got up and paced the room. They began flipping through the book and were reading out loud what they were coming across.

"This was written by Isolt Sayre," Sam said. "It looks like a journal of sorts."

"Seems like she's going over her life story," Lysander said. "That Gormlaith seems like a real witch and I don't mean that in a good way. She seems real mean. She kidnapped Isolt and killed her family!"

"Looks like she adopted two boys and started a family with a no-maj man, they had twins," Lorcan said. "And it says here she started this school too! It was started here and expanded to the Ilvermorny we attend now!"

"No way!" Sam and Lysander said at the same time. That was more than enough for her to have to hear. She snatched the book back from her friends and continued to pace. _So does that mean I am the last descendant to the founder of this school?_

Lorcan mirrored her thought, "So that means you're the last living relative to Isolt herself, the founder of this school!"

"Ok, we don't have time to weigh the possibilities, we have been down here for a long time. I am taking the stuff that is in this trunk. I feel like I am meant to have them. We can look at the book more later but we need to get out of here."

"Agreed," Lysander said. "But you are not getting off that easily! We are going to be talking about this later!"

"Fine," she snapped, putting all the stuff in her bag before pulling out her map. "Alright let's get out of here."

They started following the map and when they went around a few bends, Delilah realised that her map was not matching the hallways she was looking at. "Uh, guys, I think we have a problem."

"Don't tell me you got us lost?" Sam said. "We'll be down here forever! I don't want to be rat food!"

"I've been following the map perfectly!" Delilah defended. "I even mapped out every classroom and hallway! I swear it is like the hallways changed!"

"Don't worry, we'll be able to figure our way out." Lorcan said. "Let me see the map."

They all gathered around the map to see if they could figure out what went wrong.

"Too bad you don't have a feeling leading us to the exit," Sam mumbled.

"Hey don't take it out on her, this map is perfect," Lorcan defended. "I mapped the hallways too and her map is exactly like mine. I even remember this hallway specifically! It was the hallway with the dorms and that's right where we should be. Look there are no doors anymore, Delilah is right."

"Well now isn't that just great?" Lysander said, slumping to the floor in defeat. "How are we going to find our way out?"

"Hey what about the book?" Sam asked. "Isolt created the school, maybe she wrote in there how to find the way out!"

"Yeah, let me see the book," Lorcan said. "I've been researching since I was 6, I can find it if it's in there."

Delilah slumped to the floor in defeat too. She dug the book out of her bag as Lorcan sat next to her and she handed it over to him. He quickly flipped through the book a few times, causing the others to get more and more defeated each pass through.

He jumped up to his feet and then yelled "Aha! It's a map!. I think it's even in real time! Look I can see the hallways changing right here! It has the whole map of Ilvermorny! It must be spelled to stay current like the family tree! That's amazing! And look it even has the location of all the people in the school! There we are!"

They all gathered around to take a look, and sure enough, there was a map of the entire Ilvermorny complex and the locations of everyone, mapped by labeled footprints. They were showing up in the middle of the section of the map that showed the dungeon, the hallways were most certainly changing.

"Salvation!" Sam yelled. "Let's get out of this creepy underground!"

"Yeah hopefully we can make it back just in time to get dinner," Lysander said. "I'm starving! It feels like my stomach is eating itself!"

Following the map, they made it through in no time, only having to change directions a handful of times because of the hallways changing. Nearing the Potions class, they saw that there was a teacher in the classroom, heading for the door. When they saw that he was heading in their direction they ran back.

"What do we do now?" Delilah said, fearing the consequences. If they were got caught down there they would get in trouble.

"Wait, I read something in here," Lorcan said looking through the book, "Go into this classroom so I can find it."

They all gathered in there, Lysander standing guard. Lorcan flipped through the book again, flipping forward and back a few times before stopping at a page.

"I knew I saw that!" he said pointing to the page.

On it was a picture of the cloak she had found in the chest. Written all around it was a description of the the cloak including what it was made out of, the color, and the designs. Then at the bottom it explains that it has been spelled to conceal the wearer's from detection. Isolt had created it to hide her children under, both the twins and the boys.

"It's an invisibility cloak!" Sam exclaimed!

"Your ancestors to the rescue again!" Lysander said. "Good book worming bro!"

"And since it was made to conceal all four of the kids its bound to be big enough to hide us all," Lorcan explained. "Lets check it out."

Delilah pulled out the cloak and the three of them got under it. There was plenty of room for all of them as long as they crouched down. Lysander was still looking out the door to keep watch and when he turned to talk to them he saw he was alone in the room. "Holy Merlin! Where did you guys go!"

They all walked over and enveloped him in there a well causing him to startle.

"Wow! This is pretty sweet!" Lysander said. "I really couldn't see you guys! It was like you guys just disappeared!"

"Good, it works!" Sam said shoving them towards the door. "Let's get out of here before I starve to death!"

They watched the map for an opportune time to leave and slipped out undetected. Once out of the dungeon, they snuck into an empty classroom and got out from the cloak. Delilah folded it back up and put it in her backpack along with the book.

"That was so cool!" Sam said "That cloak can come in handy!"

"Yeah it can!" Lysander said, then got a mischievous look on his face. "Can you imagine what we could be capable of with both the cloak and map?"

"I don't think so," Lorcan and Delilah said at once. Delilah continued, "I think we have had enough adventure to last us a lifetime. I've already gotten in enough trouble."

"Aww come on," Sam said. "We would literally be undetectable!"

"I said no, and that's final." Delilah said. "Now let's go eat."

They all rushed to the dining hall and just barely made it in time to get food. After eating their fill, they all headed up to the common room. Delilah wanted some peace and quiet to look at the book some more without the others looking over her shoulder. She excused herself and went up to the dorm to shut herself in her bed. Just her and the book. She read Isolt's story about her upbringing, starting a family, starting the school, and how they defeated Gormlaith.

 _A Pukwudgie named William defeated her? I wonder if the head of security is a descendant of the original William? Or is he the real William? How old do Pukwudgies live for?_ She thought until she fell asleep, book still in hand.


	15. Halloween

The next few weeks went by without anything too exciting going on. Delilah was enjoying the classes and was doing well on her assignments. There had not been any more exploding potions or "incidents." She had served her time in detention the week following their castle exploration. She spent her detentions with Professor Hindamon scrubbing the dining hall tables on the first day and cleaning windows the next. Altogether it wasn't so bad. She felt Professor Hindamon took it easy on her this go around considering the fact that it was not really her fault. She had to make sure to keep out of trouble so she didn't have to do a real detention.

It was nearing Halloween and the school had been decorated in a spooky theme. Delilah loved it. There were pumpkins and decorations everywhere. Some areas were decorated with animated ghouls and monsters that would jump out and grab you. It was like Ilvermorny had become a haunted house and Delilah was loving every minute of it. Sam on the other hand, was tired of being scared witless every time she turned a corner. Sam was really not good with these sorts of things and the boys thought it was hilarious every time she would scream.

Delilah was most excited for the Halloween party they had scheduled for the students. According to the fliers that were all over the school, they would turn the whole main floor into one large haunted house and have a dance in the dining hall. In the description of the haunted maze, it said that it was important to bring your wands if you wanted to participate. It did not say why but that there would be a chance for a prize if you made it through. There was a costume contest as well and luckily they had just been taught a wardrobe altering charm in Transfiguration so they would be able to make costumes.

They were discussing costumes as they walked back to the common room after classes a week before the party. Sam decided she was going as a witch, the kind with the green skin and the big warted nose. Lysander was going as Jack Skellington and Lorcan wanted to go as Einstein (much to Einstein's approval). Delilah could not seem to figure out what she wanted to do yet.

"I just don't know what to do," Delilah said. "I was never really good at costumes."

"Well you can be a witch like me," Sam said, and then changed her answer real quick seeing the look on Delilah's face. "Fine then, what about a mermaid?"

"Yeah that would be fine and dandy if I didn't need my feet," Delilah said. "You know, the whole them having tails thing."

"Well you can be one of your favorite characters from your favorite book," Lorcan said.

"Too many to pick from," Delilah said, starting to sound defeated.

"I know!" Lysander exclaimed. "You can be the Sally to my Jack! I was going to make a dummy for her, but now you can be my dummy!"

"Oh yeah, exactly what I want to be, a dummy," Delilah joked. "You know what? I've always loved Sally. Fine you got yourself a Sally. Plus it's an easy costume, all I have to do is transfigure a dress to look like it's patched together, change my hair to red, and draw some lines on my face. Easily done."

"Sweet! It was going to look awfully pathetic if I had to show up with a doll. But now I will be and it won't be weird," Lysander said, winking as he continued. "Now I will get to go with a real doll."

"Oh geeze. You're something else," Delilah said.

She spent the next week perfecting the hair dye spell, figuring out how to lengthen the time frame from the spell the twins had taught her on their first day there, and making her dress. The dress was simple to make. She took one she already had and used the spell they had learned in transfiguration to make it look patchy like Sally's. She had put the last perfecting touches to them just in time to get ready for the party. Looking in the mirror, she looked just like Sally, stitches and all. Sam walked in with her costume on and seeing Delilah in hers was now having second thoughts about her own. "Man, I just look ridiculous."

"I like yours! And you did great on the nose, very wicked witch." Delilah said trying to cheer her up. "Why don't you like it?"

"Ugh, I was trying to go for ironic," she complained. "But now I just feel stupid."

"Well with some minor tweaks you can be Shock," Delilah said, noticing her confused look she continued. "You know Lock, Shock, and Barrel? The three kids that were helping Jack kidnap Santa Clause? She was the witch one. You guys both kind of have the same attitude too."

"Oh whatever" Sam said laughing. "Alright, fine! Help me out then will ya? Can you change the dress to that purple shade and I'll work on the mask and my hair."

Shortly after they were ready to go, both looking just like their characters. Entering the common room, they found the boys sitting by the fire playing a game of wizarding chess. They must have been waiting a while since they were almost done with their game. Lysander looked great as Jack and they couldn't tell what Lorcan was until he turned around. He had changed his mind to be Stephen Hawking, wheelchair and all. Upon seeing that everyone else had gone with the theme, he sighed in frustration.

"Everyone is going to copy Lysander?" Lorcan said, getting kind of grumpy. "Now I'll be the odd one out!"

"Dude, since you have the wheelchair already you should just be Dr. Finklestein!" Lysander exclaimed! "It wouldn't be much of a change either! Just lose the hair, darken the glasses, and change your outfit to a lab coat!"

"Are you serious right now?" Lorcan grumbled. "I do not want to be Dr. Finklestein!"

"You should! Then we can enter the costume contest as a group! It's either that or be the odd one out, you don't have time to change into any other character" Sam pointed out. "You are even starting to look like him with that sour look."

"Fine!" he shouted grumpily. "I'll be the gross weird character. At least he is a scientist."

They all worked together to fix up his costume, each taking on a different part of it. Lysander changed the look of the wheelchair, Sam did the glasses, Lorcan worked on his face, and Delilah worked on the costume since she already had a lot of practice with clothes today.

"And my dragon skin gloves are black! That'll be the cherry on top!" Sam yelled as she was running upstairs to grab her gloves. The others had just finished the other alterations by the time she came back. She was amazed at the detail they had put into the work. She handed him the gloves as she said, "Wow, especially with that expression, you look just like him!"

"Alright, let's get this over with," Lorcan said grumpily wheeling towards the exit without waiting.

"Keep up the good work man!" Lysander joked. "You're really getting into character now!"

"Here, I'll even push you!" Delilah said with a smile. "We can both get into character. Your costume really does look great though."

"Mmhmm," Lorcan grumbled. "We'll surely be fitting the parts then."

They all headed downstairs to see what the school had prepared for them. As they cleared the portrait hole, Einstein shouted, "Vhat? No kopee cat coztoome?"

"Sorry man," Lorcan said. "Couldn't be the odd one out."

No one else mentioned that he had already changed his mind before he was Dr Finklestein, and Einstein grumbled as they walked away. All of them were excited, even Lorcan, though he was still trying to act like he was in a bad mood. Coming down the staircase, they were greeted by doors that were not there before. They blocked off the bottom of the stairs with a set of old wooden doors, one of which had a sliding peephole in it. Walking up to the door, Lysander tried to open it, but it was locked. Shrugging to the others he turned back and knocked. The peephole slid open revealing some rather scary looking pair of eyes, "State your business here."

"Uh, we're here for the party?" Lysander said, a bit confused.

"You may enter," the scary voice said. After a few knocks and groaning noises, the door opened, revealing William standing on a stool so he would be tall enough to peer through the hole. "And be forewarned, the haunted house is not for the weak! Many dangerous and frightening monsters lurk about within, so proceed with caution and have your wands at the ready!"

"Well that explained why they said to bring your wands," Lorcan said. "So do we want to go into the haunted house?"

"Yes!" all three of them answered at once.

Walking up to the entrance, which was another old wooden door, they saw that there was a poster pinned to it. Upon closer inspection, they saw that it was a list of rules for the haunted house.

Welcome to the Ilvermorny Haunted House

 **PARTICIPANTS BEWARE!**

Inside are a series of rooms.  
Six rooms total

Proceed with caution

 **Rooms are designed for 2+ students**

Keep your wands at the ready at all times

If you feel you are unable to complete a room,  
Send up a red flare. Someone will come to assist you.

To qualify for the prize,  
you must progress through every room.

 **ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK**

"Like that's not ominous," Sam said with a shudder. "I wonder what's inside."

"Well, we'll never figure out standing out here," Lysander said, but made no move towards the door. "Alright, ladies first!"

"What a gentleman," Sam said with a scoff. "But I'm definitely not going first."

"Well I don't want to go first either," Lorcan said, getting out of his wheelchair and setting it aside.

"Fine big Mandrakes," Delilah said. Her parents used to take her to the haunted house ever since she was young. She wasn't scared. "I'll go first."

She reached for the handle but then got that feeling like she did when they were in the tunnels. This time though, it wasn't a good feeling but it was still pulling her inside. Figuring it was just nerves, she grabbed the handle and stepped inside. Seeing that nothing jumped out to get her, the others followed suit. Once they were inside, the door slammed shut and Lysander tried to escape, but the door was locked.

"Oh, man," Lysander groaned, looking awfully scared. "I'm really no good at haunted houses."

They took a look around the room and saw that it was decorated like a deep dark forest. Nothing happened as they stood there so they began exploring the room. It was much larger than they expected, they couldn't even see any of the walls at first. Looking around, Delilah ran into one of the walls. They were spelled to make the room seem to go on forever. Following the walls around the room, they found a door in a tree. It must be the way out, but it was locked. They looked around but could not figure out where the key was. Then out of nowhere, they started getting pelted with rocks. Looking around they found the source and groaned. Imps, and around each of their necks was a key.

"Oh man, this is a repeat of the first day of Defense," Lorcan said, annoyed by an Imp throwing pebbles at him. He waved his wand and said "Flipendo" knocking the Imp to the ground. "At least this one is easy."

He tried the key in the door and it didn't work. "Ugh, next!"

Sam got the next two, and neither worked. "You got any of those helpful feelings?"

"No, sorry," Delilah said. "But I got a few more buggers, they were all trying to drop a boulder on me."

Luckily one of the ones she caught worked, so they put them all back up in the trees and moved on to the next room. It was dark in there so Lorcan and Delilah lit their wands. They could barely make out something on the walls of the long hallway they were in. Lorcan started walking closer to it to figure out what it was, Delilah in tow. Getting closer he heard something whiz by his head, unfortunately hitting Lysander by the door, causing him the squeal. They spun around real quick to see him pull out a long yellow spike out of his leg.

"If any of you speak a word of what just happened," Lysander said, embarrassed of the sound he just made, "I will hex you for a week!"

"Crap that's a spiky bush spike!" Sam exclaimed taking a look at what Lysander pulled out of his leg. "Get outta there or you two will be looking like porcupines before you know it!"

Lorcan and Delilah hurried back just as two more spikes took flight, one of which grazing Delilah in the arm. "Man that does hurt!"

"Alright, I remember how to deal with these," Lorcan said. "We just gotta burn them but we have to make sure to keep a distance or it'll get us."

As Sam and Lorcan burned the plant, they got a good look at the hall, and there were at least five more. "Ugh, there's no way any of us are making it out of here unscathed. What do they have next? A troll"

"It's not that bad," Lorcan said, burning down the second one.

"Thats easy for you to say, your accuracy is better than mine." Sam said.

Through the grumbling, they managed to make it through with no more than a few scratches. They found the door at the end of the hallway and went through. Inside the room was nothing but a bunch of cupboards. Once again, as soon as they walked in, the door snapped shut. Shrugging, they set about searching the room, all opening a different cupboard. Out of the cupboards jumped a boggart for each of them that quickly began to transform. Sam's turned into a scary clown, Lorcan's turned into a stack of failed assignments and tests with his name on them, Delilah's into a giant spider, and Lysander's into an older blonde lady who kept telling him how disappointed she was in him in an airy but angry voice. Each of them said "Riddikulus," rather quickly, embarrassed by their own boggart experience. The clown turned into a happy nice clown, the papers into A's, the spider blew up like a balloon, and the woman became sweet and bubbly.

"Dude, is that mom?" Lorcan asked laughing.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Lysander said avoiding his eyes. "Not like you got much room to talk failure."

"Yeah yeah yeah, weird fears," Sam said. "Can we move on please. I'd like to scrub the look of that guy from my eyes please."

They continued to check cupboards and beating the boggarts one by one until finally one of them found the door that lead to the next room. Walking in they saw that covering the far wall was a huge venomous tentacula. It was guarding the only other door in the room. They all sighed in frustration.

"Are they trying to kill us?" Lysander said indignantly. "That thing can definitely kill us."

"It's not that hard," Delilah said, going up to it and saying "Diffindo" with a wave of her wand to slowly sever each of its branches, pruning it back. "Just make sure to not let it get you, with its branches or its stupid spiky spitballs."

They all took their time cutting it back, and eventually made it to the door, Sam being the only victim of their spiky spitballs. Opening the door, they were then in a room that looked a whole lot like a certain place down under with fire and brimstone. Across the room, and past a very frightening looking bridge, was the door, unguarded.

"This can't be as easy as it seems," Lorcan said cautiously.

"That bridge definitely looks ominous," Sam said. "How about you boys go first?"

"Uh uh," Lysander said shaking his head. "We all go or no one goes!"

"Agreed," Lorcan and Delilah said at once.

Then Delilah was filled with dread. Something horrible was about to happen next door, she could just feel it. "Guys whatever it is we need to hurry and NOW! I just had a horrible feeling! Someone is going to get seriously hurt next door if we don't hurry!"

Knowing what Delilah's feelings entailed, they all rushed to the bridge slowly going across in a line, each looking in different directions. Then out of nowhere a hoard of Doxies came swarming in and they all rushed through knocking them away with the Knockback Jinx, Flipendo. Once on the other side, Lorcan was holding his neck like he was hurt, but when asked about it, he said, "Don't worry about it! Get next door before these guys get us!"

They rushed through the door and slammed it shut behind them, a few thumps emanating from the other side. Turning around, they faced a large dark room, so dark they couldn't see the other side. What they could see though, was a wand that was laying on the ground, still lit by Lumos. Walking out to grab it, Delilah was yanked up off the ground, causing her to drop the wand and start to panic. It wasn't until she got pulled up in it that she realised it was Devil's snare. So she forced herself to relax and it started to let her go. On her way down she caught sight of a boy who was entangled, struggling amidst a panic attack, and was slowly starting to fade.

"Hurry guys! Quick! It's Devil's snare!" Since she was panicking for the boy, she started getting squeezed again and since she could not get herself to relax. It was squeezing tighter and tighter and she couldn't breathe anymore. Just as she was about to pass out, it recoiled, having been burnt by someone below. She fell from her spot and got caught by Lysander. It was only him and Sam burning down the vines. "There's a boy stuck up there still! He doesn't have much longer!"

She searched for Lorcan and found him in a pile on the ground. Fearing the worst, she sent a red flare up into the air, signaling for help. Taking a closer look at his neck she saw the teeth marks, he must have been bit by a Doxy. Just as the help arrived, the other boy had just been caught by Lysander and the Devil's snare was cowering in the top corners of the room. Miss Dugood, Professor Hindamon, and the Headmaster all ran to Lorcan to tend to him. Lysander, now not distracted by the danger of the vines, saw his brother and rushed to his side, pushing even the headmaster aside.

"He'll be alright, don't worry," Miss Dugood said. "I gave him the antidote already, he should be right as rain shortly."

As if waiting for her to say that, Lorcan woke back up, rubbing his neck, "What are you all looking at?"

Lysander grabbed his brother and hugged him tight causing him to groan, "Ugh you're worse than the Devil's Snare! I can't breathe!"

Once the adults knew Lorcan was ok, they went to make sure the other boy was ok. Other than some bruising and a few broken ribs he was fine. Miss Dugood gave him a potion for the pain and then took him by stretcher to the ward to heal his bones. Lysander finally let his brother go and helped him up. He then turned to Delilah and gave her a hug so big he picked her up off her feet, "And if it weren't for you both my brother and that boy would have died! You're like a superhero!"

Catching what he said, Professor Hindamon pulled delilah aside asking her, "What did he mean by that?" by this point the Headmaster had joined them as well.

"Well...umm….I got this….feeling...no more like a sense….well….we were in the last room and I just felt like something horrible was going to happen if I didn't get into the next room. We hurried in here and when I saw the wand just laying there, I just knew something was wrong. And then when I was up in the vines, I saw him and I just knew that was what was wrong. Then I was released by the vines cause the others had been burning them, and then I saw Lorcan and I knew that was part of it too so I sent up the flare for both of them."

After giving her a look she could not discern, the Headmaster turned back to the group and said, "Well it seems I have to congratulate all four of you! Without your bravery and skills, these two boys would have most assuredly been gravely injured. Great job!"

The four of them happily joined the others in the great hall to join the festivities. There was a big feast with more food than they could even imagine. It was all themed to match the halloween theme like Witches brew which was a soup, stuffed jack-o-lantern bell peppers, and even a fake corpse made out of bread with spaghetti and sausages hanging out of its stomach.

While they were eating, the Headmaster stood and spoke. "I would like to take a moment to thank Miss Steward, Miss Bette, and both Mr Lysander and Mr Lorcan Scamander for their bravery in the haunted house. They were not only one of the few to make it through to the end, they also saved the life of a fellow student. Not only are you to be rewarded the 20 stars apiece for completing the haunted house, you will also each be receiving 50 stars as a reward for your bravery and skills."

The whole room cheered them on, Lysander actually standing to bow. They all finished their food as the band started playing and a few people passed by patting them on the back. Once everyone was done eating, the food and half of the tables disappeared and the dance began. They stayed and danced for a while and watched but did not participate in the costume contest. After going through the Haunted house, their costumes were a bit of a mess and they were too tired to fix them. Late into the night they all retired to bed, too exhausted to even change out of their costumes.


End file.
